Catalog

Guideline Catalog

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

781 records

Page 19 of 33

  1. Remove task-irrelevant encodings from simple bar comparisons

    For simple between-value comparison tasks, avoid task-irrelevant secondary encodings on bar charts to prevent competing relational interpretations and mitigate interference when viewers must compare one dimension at a time.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • chart:bar
    • quality:fidelity
    • +3

  2. Remove the centerline when a bounded uncertainty region should not imply peak impact at the middle

    For intuitive impact judgments across ordered future time, avoid a salient centerline on bounded geospatial forecast maps to prevent central-path overemphasis and mitigate intensity misreadings for viewers with low domain knowledge.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • time:ordered-time
    • data:geospatial
    • quality:fidelity
    • +3

  3. Remove unnecessary 3D from charts shown in 2D media

    For quantitative charts shown in 2D media, avoid 3D rendering on charts to prevent occlusion and perceptual ambiguity and mitigate projection distortion for readers comparing values at a glance.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • quality:fidelity
    • lever:encoding
    • aesthetic:style:avoid
    • +1

  4. Remove verbatim on-screen text when narration already explains an animation

    For explanatory viewing with animation and narration, avoid duplicate on-screen sentences on the same display to improve insight and mitigate incidental processing spent reconciling identical word streams for viewers following motion and speech at once.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • quality:insight
    • lever:text-annotation
    • temporal-pattern:dynamic
    • +1

  5. Render uncertain values as density rather than discrete marks

    For multivariate relationship analysis, use per-sample density rendering on scatter and parallel plots with quantified uncertainty to improve trust and mitigate false pattern detection for viewers interpreting statistically modeled data.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • chart:scatter
    • chart:parallel
    • lever:encoding
    • +2

  6. Reorder discrete palettes by perceptual distance before assigning categories

    For categorical encoding assignment, use perceptual-distance-based palette order on discrete color, shape, or size palettes to maximize discriminability and mitigate early assignment of look-alike symbols for viewers comparing categories.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • data:categorical
    • quality:fidelity
    • lever:encoding
    • +1

  7. Reorder discrete shape or color palettes by perceptual distance

    For cluster-oriented reading of categorical groups, prefer perceptually reordered shape or color palettes on categorical mark encodings to maximize readability and mitigate confusable default palette orderings for viewers distinguishing groups.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:cluster
    • data:categorical
    • quality:readability:use
    • +2

  8. Reorder panels to match the narrative logic

    For relate tasks in multi-panel charts of interrelated measures, prefer narrative panel order on the panel sequence to maximize insight and address disconnected up-or-down readings for readers following an unfolding story.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • task:relate
    • structure:small-multiples
    • quality:insight
    • +3

  9. Repeat all series as background lines in each small-multiple panel

    For limited cross-series comparison over ordered time, use repeated background lines in small-multiple line charts to improve insight and address missing same-date ranking cues for readers comparing panels.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • task:compare
    • time:ordered-time
    • structure:small-multiples
    • +3

  10. Repeat category colors in nearby annotations

    For annotated color-encoded visualizations, use category-colored annotation text on statements tied to specific nearby data points to improve readability and mitigate eye-travel back to the color key for readers interpreting highlighted categories.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • quality:readability:use
    • lever:text-annotation
    • component:annotation:use
    • +2

  11. Repeat key values with data redundancy

    For exact reading and recall of quantitative values, use repeated quantitative encodings on the chart to improve insight and address missed values for readers interpreting the figure directly.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:retrieve
    • data:quantitative
    • quality:insight
    • +4

  12. Repeat the chart subject and measure inside the chart

    For first-pass reading, use redundant on-chart wording across annotations and axes on charts to improve readability and mitigate reliance on a single title or description for readers who may skip it.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • quality:readability
    • lever:text-annotation
    • component:annotation:use
    • +2

  13. Repeat the main message inside the chart

    For explanatory reading of a single visualization, use repeated message cues on the chart to improve insight and address missed conclusions for readers interpreting the figure directly.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compose
    • quality:insight
    • lever:text-annotation
    • +3

  14. Repeat the same local transition pattern across matched story segments

    For grouped linear narrative sequencing, use repeated local transition patterns on multi-view visualization presentations to improve readability and mitigate harder-to-explain reversed sections for audiences following a guided presentation.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compose
    • scope:grouped-result
    • structure:multi-view
    • +2

  15. Replace playback animation with static traces for single-view trend analysis

    For trend analysis over ordered time, use a static trace overlay on scatter views to improve fidelity and mitigate replay-and-tracking errors for analysts.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:trend
    • time:ordered-time
    • chart:scatter
    • +3

  16. Replace rainbow colormaps with a perceptually ordered quantitative ramp

    For comparison tasks on quantitative color scales, avoid rainbow colormaps on scalar color encodings to prevent slow and error-prone value reading and address misleading similarity judgments for viewers comparing relative differences.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • data:quantitative
    • quality:fidelity
    • +3

  17. Report compared risks on a shared denominator

    For exact comparison of risk reduction in grouped-result quantitative summaries, prefer matched denominators on numeric two-group comparisons to improve fidelity and mitigate denominator neglect for readers interpreting treatment effectiveness.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • scope:grouped-result
    • quality:fidelity
    • +3

  18. Rescale the axis when you must keep confidence intervals

    For treatment-effect judgments from confidence-interval summaries, use axis rescaling on mean-with-interval charts to improve fidelity and mitigate exaggerated effect-size perception for lay readers.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • quality:fidelity:use
    • lever:scale-order
    • +3

  19. Reserve bold type for titles and emphasis

    For titles, annotations, descriptions, and notes in charts, use bold type only for emphasis on chart text to improve readability and mitigate overemphasized long text for readers scanning hierarchy.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • quality:readability
    • lever:text-annotation
    • polish:hierarchy

  20. Reserve gray for categories you intend to downplay

    For categorical charts that mix gray and non-gray marks, avoid gray on categories that are as important as the colored ones to prevent false hierarchy and address palette workarounds that hide important data for readers who interpret gray as lower priority.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • quality:fidelity
    • lever:encoding
    • polish:hierarchy
    • +1

  21. Respect user text resizing and spacing settings

    For chart reading when users change text size or spacing, use chart text styling that respects user-agent font-size and text-spacing changes on chart text elements to prevent loss of content or functionality and address charts that block browser zoom or imported styles for people with low vision.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:accessibility
    • quality:accessibility
    • lever:interaction-access
    • channel:text:use
    • +2

  22. Restrict unavoidable animation to one-at-a-time building on grouped icons

    For compare tasks on animated icon-array risk graphics, use one-at-a-time building on grouped arrays to prevent accuracy losses and mitigate the distraction of more complex motion for mixed-numeracy audiences.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • quality:fidelity
    • lever:interaction-access
    • +2

  23. Retune the scatterplot preset for anomaly detection

    For extreme-value detection, prefer task-specific preset tuning on scatterplots of quantitative data to improve anomaly-finding fidelity and address reuse of presets built for other reading tasks in preset-reuse workflows.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:extreme
    • chart:scatter
    • data:quantitative
    • +3

  24. Reuse a color only for the same variable across charts

    For multi-chart explanations, use consistent color assignments on charts that share several variables to improve readability and mitigate shifts in color meaning for readers.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • structure:multi-view
    • quality:readability
    • lever:encoding
    • +2