Kōkiri Learn

Background reading · English

Show it: graphs, diagrams and visuals

The right visual can explain in seconds what words take paragraphs to say. Learn which visual does which job, and how to caption it.

Open any good science magazine or news website and you'll see that writers don't rely on words alone. Photos, graphs, diagrams, maps and infographics all help readers understand. Each type of visual has a job it does best.

Match the visual to the job

  • Bar graph: comparing amounts, such as how many students walk, bike, bus or get driven to school. - Line graph: showing change over time, such as monthly rainfall or the number of kererū counted each year. - Pie chart: showing parts of a whole, when the parts add up to 100 percent. - Diagram: showing parts of something, or the steps in a process, with arrows and labels. - Map: showing where things are, such as flood zones or the route of an old tram line. - Photo: showing what something really looks like, or proving that it happened.

    • Make it readable

    Every graph needs a title, labelled axes with units, and a key if colours stand for something. Start number axes at zero, or readers may think a small difference is huge. Keep colours simple and don't add 3D effects that make bars hard to compare.

    Captions do the explaining

    A caption is the short text under a visual. A weak caption says what it is: 'Graph of transport'. A strong caption tells readers what to notice: 'Most students in our class are driven to school, but more than half live less than 2 km away.'

    Infographics

    An infographic mixes numbers, icons, short text and colour to tell a story quickly. Scientists use them to share findings with the public. A good one has a clear focus, a few key numbers, and a design that guides your eye from top to bottom.

    Honest visuals

    Visuals can mislead as well as inform. Stretching an axis, leaving out data or cropping a photo can change the story. Always make your visuals from real data you can source, and say where the data came from.

    Sources and further reading

    Written for Kōkiri Learn students in our own words. Check facts against the sources.

    Used in: Explain It: Non-fiction and Feature Writing