chart-annotationlisted

# Chart annotation Annotation is where a chart stops being a picture of data and becomes a statement someone can act on. It is also the cheapest quality improvement available — mostly words, no code. --- ## The title states the finding, not the subject The highest-leverage rule in this pack. | Subject title (weak) | Takeaway title (strong) | |---|---| | ARR Bridge | Churn offset half of new ARR this quarter | | Monthly Revenue | Revenue growth has flattened since March | | Cohort Retention | Cohorts since January retain 6 points better at month 3 | | Budget vs Actual | Three departments account for 80% of the overspend | | Cash Forecast | Runway reaches 11 months under the plan hiring pace | The subject can be a smaller subtitle underneath. But the headline is what the reader takes away, so it should be **what you want them to take away**. Two disciplines follow from this: 1. **If you cannot write the takeaway title, you do not yet know what the chart is for.** That is a signal to stop and reconsider the chart, not to fall back on a subject title. 2. **The title must be defensible.** It is a claim. If the data does not support it, change the title — never overstate to make a slide land. For an exploratory tool where the reader draws their own conclusion, a subject title is correct. Know which one you are building. --- ## Direct labels beat legends A legend forces a lookup: read the colour, find the swatch, map back. Direct labels remove it. - **Line charts*