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Making a chart accessible: Cornell degrees awarded over time

Suggested answers

Application exercise
Answers
Apply accessible design principles to improve the quality of a chart.
Modified

October 27, 2026

Note

This application exercise is completed in class and submitted via a worksheet.

Our goal is to make this chart depicting the percentage of degrees awarded by Cornell University over time more accessible.

Data

The data come from the Department of Education’s College Scorecard and has been structured as one row per field of study per year.

# A tibble: 145 × 3
   field_of_study  year    pct
   <chr>          <dbl>  <dbl>
 1 Computer        1997 0.0421
 2 Computer        1998 0.0497
 3 Computer        1999 0.0581
 4 Computer        2000 0.0716
 5 Computer        2001 0.0684
 6 Computer        2002 0.0859
 7 Computer        2003 0.0745
 8 Computer        2004 0.0463
 9 Computer        2005 0.0327
10 Computer        2006 0.032 
# ℹ 135 more rows

Brainstorm improvements

Your turn: Write alternative text for the chart.

Your turn: Identify how the chart above could be improved to make it more accessible using techniques discussed in class.

Implement your improvements

Now try implementing your proposed suggestions in the code cell below.

Possible solutions

Keep it in a single plot

cornell_deg |>
  mutate(

    field_of_study = fct_relevel(
      .f = field_of_study,
      "Computer",
      "Business Marketing",
      "Engineering",
      "Agriculture",
      "Biological"
    )
  ) |>
  ggplot(
    mapping = aes(
      x = year,
      y = pct,
      color = field_of_study,
      linetype = field_of_study
    )
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  geom_line(linewidth = 1) +
  scale_x_continuous(limits = c(1996, 2025), breaks = seq(1996, 2025, 4)) +
  scale_color_colorblind(black = FALSE) +
  scale_y_continuous(labels = label_percent()) +
  labs(

    x = "Graduation year",
    y = "Percent of degrees awarded",
    color = "Field of study",
    linetype = "Field of study"
  ) +
  theme_minimal(
    base_size = 12,
    base_family = "Atkinson Hyperlegible"
  )
1
Order the fields of study so that the most frequent ones at the end of the time series are listed first.
2
Increase the line width to make it easier to see the lines.
3
Use a colorblind-friendly palette to make it easier to distinguish the lines. Do not use black from the palette because it makes the category look emphasized compared to the other palette colors.
4
Move the title, subtitle, and caption to the figure caption in Quarto. Also allows the hyperlink to be embedded in the text.
5
Increase the base font size to make it easier to read.
6
Use a font that is easier to read, such as Atkinson Hyperlegible.

Line chart of the percent of degrees awarded by Cornell University in five fields of study, by graduation year from 1997 to 2025. Engineering starts highest at about 27% but drops to about 17% in 2004 and ends near 13%. Computer science falls from 4% to 2% by 2007, then climbs steadily after 2012 to become the largest field in 2025 at about 18%. Agriculture is 0% until 2003, then jumps to about 12%. Business marketing, biological, and agriculture fields stay between 10% and 15% in recent years.

Cornell University degrees awarded from 1997-2025
Only the top five fields as of 2025
Source: Department of Education

Use faceting and highlighting

cornell_deg_ordered <- cornell_deg |>
  mutate(
    field_of_study = fct_relevel(
      .f = field_of_study,
      "Computer",
      "Business Marketing",
      "Engineering",
      "Agriculture",
      "Biological"
    )
  )

ggplot(
  data = cornell_deg_ordered,
  mapping = aes(
    x = year,
    y = pct
  )
) +

  geom_line(
    data = cornell_deg_ordered |>
      rename(group_field = field_of_study),
    mapping = aes(group = group_field),
    color = "grey50"
  ) +
  geom_line(linewidth = 1, color = "orange") +
  scale_x_continuous(limits = c(1996, 2025), breaks = seq(1996, 2025, 8)) +
  scale_y_continuous(labels = label_percent()) +
  facet_wrap(facets = vars(field_of_study)) +
  labs(
    x = "Graduation year",
    y = "Percent of degrees awarded",
  ) +
  theme_minimal(
    base_size = 12,
    base_family = "Atkinson Hyperlegible"
  )
1
Order the fields of study so that the most frequent ones at the end of the time series are listed first.
2
Add a grey line for all fields of study to provide context for the highlighted field.
3
Rename the field_of_study column so this layer is not used for faceting, but still preserve the ability to draw separate lines for each field of study.
4
Highlight the line for the field of study in the facet.
5
Use faceting to separate the fields of study into their own panels.
6
Increase the spacing between the \(x\)-axis ticks to make it easier to read.
7
Increase the base font size to make it easier to read.
8
Use a font that is easier to read, such as Atkinson Hyperlegible.

Faceted line chart with five panels, one per field of study, showing the percent of degrees awarded by Cornell University by graduation year from 1997 to 2025. Each panel highlights one field against the other four fields. Computer science dips to about 2% around 2007 then rises to the highest value, about 18%, by 2025. Engineering drops sharply from about 27% to 17% around 2004 and declines to about 13%. Business marketing, biological, and agriculture fields stay in a narrow band of roughly 10% to 15%, with agriculture at 0% before 2004.

Cornell University degrees awarded from 1997-2025
Only the top five fields as of 2025
Source: Department of Education
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 * ── Packages attached to the search path.
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