Note: There are definitely still things we can improve about this graph. It should be tailored for your specific use case. The message you want to convey really depends on the angle of analysis and the stakeholders you are presenting to.

Note there could be other take-home messages for this graph. Hence, the large decline in the share prices of Spotify and Netflix since the pandemic highs support a change in attitude from investors. Investor sentiment is manifested in the prevailing stock price which we can monitor over time. In this example, I have chosen to convey that the message from the chart is a sharp change in the attitude of investors towards these stocks. The headline should complement the original title and provide extra context on the key message you are trying to show from the visualisation. The updated chart now has two titles: a headline with a key message, and the original title. Matplotlib visualistion with two titles: a headline with a take-home message and a functional title describing what is being plotted suptitle ( 'Investor sentiment has turned on the streaming business model', fontsize = 16, fontweight = 'bold', x = 0.126, y = 0.96, ha = 'left', ) plt. title ( 'Spotify and Netflix's share price rebased to January 2020', fontsize = 14, pad = 10, loc = 'left', ) plt.

plot ( figsize = ( 12, 8 ), color = ) plt.

Now lets improve the chart by adding a headline to clearly show the take-home message using plt.suptitle. Make it easy for them! Add a headline with plt.suptitle # Potentially reducing the impact of your analysis if the stakeholder does not interpret the chart correctly or doesn’t have the bandwidth to even try and understand it. As a consumer of the visualisation you need to spend at least 30 seconds interpreting the title and the contents of the graph, before you can gain any insight.Īs an analyst, by not including your take-home message in the chart you are missing a golden opportunity to deliver your conclusion. Without any context, it is difficult to immediately understand what is interesting about the graph. What is interesting about the chart? What is the take-home message? Standard matplotlib chart with a 'functional' title. Library to collect data and matplotlib to create the visualisation Let’s visualise how this has impacted their share price performance. There has been a lot of negative news about streaming services such Netflix and Spotify. However, I like to use plt.suptitle to create a headline with my key message and then use plt.title for the more conventional title that describes what is being plotted.Ĭode and further examples are provided in this notebook In theory you could use plt.title as your headline. Which allows you to add a second title (subtitle) to your charts. However, there is a handy, but less well known function called plt.suptitle Matplotlib is the defacto method for visualising data in Python.Īdding titles in Matplotlib is very easy – just use plt.title How can you add subtitles to Matplotlib charts? # Leave your audience in no doubt about what the visualisation is showing them and why it is important to them. These act as ‘headlines’ containing the key take-home message which aids your audience to interpret the graph for themselves. One of the best ways to improve the accessibility and persuasiveness of visualisations is to add descriptive subtitles to your charts. You need to cater for this fact in order to generate the most impact from your visualisation. The outputs of your analysis will likely be viewed by many different business stakeholders with varying familiarity with your dataset. In the business domain, this academic approach often falls short and misses a great opportunity to drive home your message. In these academic environments, we are told the purpose of the chart title is purely functional and should only describe the quantities being plotted on the x and y axes.įunctional titles tell the reader what the graph is plotting, but nothing about what the graph is showing or why this is interesting. However, in general, visualisation for business communication is not something that is taught well in school or university courses. Why should you add headlines or subtitles to your charts? #Įffective data visualisation is a vital skill for communicating outputs to stakeholders.

How to add titles and subtitles to your Matplotlib charts using plt.suptitle.

Overall subplot title python