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Guideline Catalog

Browse visualization guideline records with sections, labels, and references.

781 records

Page 14 of 33

  1. Match chart encodings to your audience's visual literacy

    For explanatory reading tasks, prefer encoding choices on charts with axes or statistical intervals that do not exceed the audience's visual literacy to improve readability and address overestimating chart literacy for novice or non-expert readers.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:rhetorical
    • quality:readability:use
    • lever:encoding
    • communication:resonance
    • +2

  2. Match color saturation to the party's visual importance

    For grouped election-result reporting, use color saturation and lightness on party encodings to improve readability and mitigate under- or over-emphasis of parties for readers scanning the overall result.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • scope:grouped-result
    • quality:readability
    • lever:encoding
    • +3

  3. Match color-key symbols to the chart's mark styling

    For lookup in categorical color keys, use symbol styling on legends that matches the chart marks to improve accessibility and mitigate color-only matching for readers locating colored marks.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • data:categorical
    • quality:accessibility
    • lever:encoding
    • +3

  4. Match navigation order to the chart's narrative and data structure

    For interactive chart exploration, use structure-matched navigation order on charts with narrative text and grouped or nested data to improve accessibility and mitigate serial focus paths that ignore the chart's organization for keyboard-only and screen-reader users.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:accessibility
    • scope:grouped-result
    • quality:accessibility
    • lever:interaction-access
    • +3

  5. Match relational wording to the highlighted object

    For ordered-time explanation of binary spatial relations, use text annotation on paired visual objects to improve readability and mitigate slower verification from cue-wording mismatches for readers interpreting left/right or above/below layouts.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:relate
    • time:ordered-time
    • quality:readability
    • +3

  6. Match the chart message to the storytelling stage

    For narrative-first or exploratory storytelling workflows, use workflow-matched visual framing on a chosen chart or structure to improve insight and address mismatches between a fixed narrative and evolving analysis for designers.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:rhetorical
    • quality:insight
    • lever:encoding
    • communication:workflow
    • +1

  7. Match the mapped variable to the article text

    For single-result news article accompaniment, use article-to-variable text matching on thematic map data selection to maximize contextual relevance and address off-topic mapped measures for readers seeking explanatory geographic context.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • scope:single-result
    • chart:choropleth
    • data:geospatial
    • +3

  8. Match the visual format to the story message

    For article visual planning, prefer visual-format selection on the story's primary visual to maximize message alignment and mitigate defaulting to a data visualization when another format fits better for editorial storytelling.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:rhetorical
    • quality:insight
    • lever:chart-family
    • communication:workflow

  9. Match visual conventions to known audience expectations

    For explanatory communication to a known audience, prefer audience-matched visual conventions on chart reading order, color meaning, and value presentation to improve readability and mitigate interpretation errors for readers with different cultural expectations or conceptual familiarity.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:rhetorical
    • quality:readability
    • lever:encoding
    • communication:resonance

  10. Merge less important categories into a broader group

    For multi-category part-whole charts, use category grouping on smaller or less important parts to improve readability and mitigate reader overwhelm from too many visible categories.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • lever:encoding
    • operator:part-whole
    • data:categorical
    • +3

  11. Mirror bar small multiples for correlation comparison

    For comparison of similarity between two quantitative series in paired bar charts, prefer mirrored small-multiple alignment to improve fidelity and mitigate cross-panel correspondence errors for viewers judging which pair is more correlated.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • chart:bar
    • structure:small-multiples
    • +3

  12. Mirror bar small multiples for two-way biggest-mover comparison

    For comparison of two quantitative series in a biggest-mover task when you must use small multiples, prefer mirrored alignment on bar charts to improve fidelity and mitigate cross-panel correspondence errors for viewers comparing one pair at a time.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • chart:bar
    • structure:small-multiples
    • +3

  13. Mirror bar small multiples to compare overall similarity

    For association comparison between two paired quantitative series, use mirrored alignment on bar-chart small multiples to improve fidelity and mitigate missed overall-similarity judgments for brief visual comparison.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:relate
    • chart:bar
    • structure:small-multiples
    • +4

  14. Mirror bar small multiples when largest-change comparison must stay split

    For difference comparison between two paired quantitative series, use mirrored alignment on bar-chart small multiples to improve fidelity and mitigate missed largest-change judgments for brief visual comparison.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • chart:bar
    • structure:small-multiples
    • +4

  15. Mirror paired bar charts when the task is correlation comparison

    For set-to-set comparison of correlation strength during brief inspection, use mirrored axes on paired bar charts to improve fidelity and mitigate missed symmetry cues for rapid visual judgments.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:relate
    • chart:bar
    • structure:small-multiples
    • +3

  16. Move axis ticks toward the most important marks

    For approximate value reading in charts where one side holds the most important marks, use axis ticks on the nearest side to improve readability and mitigate slower rough height or width estimates for readers scanning the key data.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • quality:readability
    • lever:layout-structure
    • component:axis:use

  17. Move explanatory words from on-screen text to narration when animation is active

    For fast-paced explanatory viewing, prefer narration over printed text on animated graphics to improve insight and mitigate split visual attention for viewers learning an unfamiliar process.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • quality:insight
    • lever:text-annotation
    • temporal-pattern:dynamic

  18. Mute comparison series and reserve color for the focal series

    For comparison tasks in multi-series charts, use muted color on non-focal series to improve readability and mitigate split attention for readers when one series is the intended focus.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • task:compare
    • quality:readability:use
    • lever:encoding
    • +3

  19. Name the measure in a trend title when a chart shows multiple measures

    For trend explanation in controversial single-view visualizations, use measure-specific trend titles on multi-measure charts to improve fidelity and mitigate ambiguous trend interpretation for viewers who may not detect title framing.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:trend
    • quality:fidelity
    • lever:text-annotation
    • +3

  20. Normalize stacked columns to 100% when only shares matter

    For part-to-whole comparison in stacked column charts, use percentage normalization when relative part size matters more than absolute totals to improve readability and mitigate misplaced attention to total height for readers comparing shares.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • chart:bar
    • operator:part-whole
    • measure:multi
    • +2

  21. Omit point labels when item details are not required in a scatter plot

    For relationship reading in item-based scatter plots, avoid per-point labels on the plotted marks to improve readability and mitigate obscured positions for viewers who do not need item-level lookup.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:relate
    • chart:scatter
    • scope:record-list
    • +4

  22. Open free exploration after the authored sequence

    For interactive data stories, prefer delayed free interaction on narrative views to improve insight and mitigate unordered digressions for readers who need the main message before exploring.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • lever:interaction-access
    • quality:insight:use
    • communication:workflow
    • +1

  23. Optimize class-to-color assignment in multiclass scatterplots

    For cluster inspection in non-temporal analysis, prefer optimized color-hue assignment on multiclass scatterplots to maximize class separability and mitigate class-counting mistakes for analysts inspecting labeled point data.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:cluster
    • chart:scatter
    • channel:color-hue:use
    • +3

  24. Order categorical color-key items to match the chart's reading order

    For lookup in categorical color keys, use legend item order on charts with equally weighted colored elements that matches the chart's reading order to improve readability and mitigate back-and-forth scanning for readers matching colors.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • data:categorical
    • quality:readability
    • lever:scale-order
    • +2