I’ve Just Discovered a New Chart, and It’s Well-Suited to Politics

The UK general election has just been, but the results map paints a confusing picture.

Here’s a chart Excel needs: a cartogram.

It’s a type of map that represents geographic regions with shapes sized according to a specific data variable rather than their land area, which can affect the interpretation of a result.

If you’ve been following the UK general election in the last few days, you might have bumped into one of these on various news websites. It’s offered as an alternative to the standard map view.

Every source I’ve seen, whether BBC News, Sky News, or The Guardian, opts to represent each constituency winner using a hexagonal polygon filled with the party colour.

Have a look at BBC News’ election graphics below.