Catalog

Guideline Catalog

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

781 records

Page 2 of 33

  1. Add comparison data that directly tests the claim

    For explanatory comparison tasks, use comparison encodings on charts with a focal measure to improve insight and mitigate unsupported claims for readers who need the values put in perspective.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • task:compare
    • quality:insight:use
    • lever:encoding
    • +2

  2. Add concise provenance annotations

    For explanatory narrative visualization, use text annotation on the presentation to improve trust and mitigate hidden editorial choices for readers interpreting a guided story.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • quality:trust:use
    • lever:text-annotation
    • communication:credibility
    • +1

  3. Add confidence intervals to latest-poll bar or column charts

    For comparison at a single timepoint, use uncertainty intervals on bar or column charts of poll estimates to improve trust and address exact-looking summaries for readers who might mistake estimates for final results.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • time:timepoint
    • chart:bar
    • quality:trust:use
    • +2

  4. Add cues that mark what to attend to and how the explanation is organized

    For dense explanatory viewing, use signaling cues on animated graphics to improve insight and mitigate attention to nonessential details for viewers navigating extraneous facts or confusing graphics.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • quality:insight
    • lever:text-annotation
    • component:annotation:use
    • +1

  5. Add direct delta encodings for average-difference judgments

    For overview judgments of paired quantitative differences in grouped displays, use direct delta encoding on paired-value charts to improve fidelity and mitigate errors from mentally subtracting each pair before averaging for viewers.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • scope:grouped-result
    • data:quantitative
    • quality:fidelity:use
    • +3

  6. Add direct delta encodings for relation-direction judgments

    For compare tasks on grouped paired quantitative displays, use direct delta encoding on paired-value charts to improve fidelity and mitigate slow, error-prone extraction of increase-versus-decrease relations for viewers.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • scope:grouped-result
    • data:quantitative
    • +3

  7. Add discrete interval extrema summaries for minimum and range comparisons

    For minimum and range comparisons over grouped time intervals, use explicit extrema summaries on position-based time-series charts to improve fidelity and mitigate errors from reading interval lows and spans off an unsummarized line.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • time:time-interval
    • data:temporal
    • +3

  8. Add explicit interval minima and maxima for within-interval range comparisons

    For within-interval extremum and range comparisons in ordered time, use explicit interval extrema overlays on line charts to maximize fidelity and address missed local highs and lows for exact interval judgments.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:extreme
    • time:ordered-time
    • chart:line
    • +3

  9. Add external context through annotations

    For contextualizing a news topic, use additive text annotation on a narrative visualization to improve insight and address missing external background for readers seeking perspective beyond the plotted values.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • lever:text-annotation
    • component:annotation:use
    • communication:context
    • +1

  10. Add familiar visual anchors to abstract charts

    For explanatory communication of abstract findings, use familiar visual anchors on charts that would otherwise rely on abstract marks alone to improve readability and mitigate detachment for general-public audiences.

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

  11. Add gridlines when readers must read values from Cartesian axes

    For value lookup, use axis grids on charts with Cartesian position scales to improve readability and mitigate axis-alignment mistakes for novice readers.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:retrieve
    • lever:encoding
    • component:axis:use
    • +3

  12. Add hover-based identity cues in interactive color-coded charts

    For interactive web charts, prefer hover-based highlighting and tooltips on color-coded marks to improve identification and mitigate color-only decoding for readers with color-vision deficiency.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • quality:accessibility
    • lever:interaction-access
    • component:tooltip:use
    • +2

  13. Add icon arrays alongside numerical risk ratios when group sizes differ

    For exact comparison of treatment risk reductions, use paired icon arrays on numerical risk summaries with unequal group sizes to improve fidelity and mitigate denominator neglect for audiences with low numeracy or limited nonnative language proficiency.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • structure:multi-view:use
    • quality:fidelity
    • +2

  14. Add icon arrays to numerical risk-reduction displays

    For treatment-benefit comparison in non-temporal medical risk displays, use icon arrays alongside numerical risk information on paired baseline-versus-treatment views to improve fidelity and mitigate misunderstanding of risk reduction for mixed-numeracy audiences.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • quality:fidelity:use
    • lever:encoding
    • +2

  15. Add icon arrays to risk comparisons with unequal denominators

    For compare tasks on grouped-result quantitative risk displays, use a multi-view layout with icon arrays alongside numeric group counts to improve fidelity and mitigate denominator neglect for audiences with low numeracy.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • scope:grouped-result
    • structure:multi-view:use
    • +3

  16. Add icon arrays when compared groups have unequal denominators

    For exact comparison of risk reduction in grouped-result quantitative summaries with unequal group sizes, use icon arrays alongside numeric counts on two-group displays to improve fidelity and mitigate denominator neglect for general readers, including older adults.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • scope:grouped-result
    • structure:multi-view:use
    • +3

  17. Add integrated visual imagery when delayed recall matters

    For delayed recall in static presentation contexts, use integrated visual imagery on charts that readers can inspect at their own pace to improve memorability of chart topic and details and address the mistake of stripping non-data imagery by default for readers who must remember the chart later.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • quality:insight
    • lever:encoding
    • communication:resonance
    • +1

  18. Add letter spacing to short words when text color is used for count comparison

    For count comparison in tagged text displays, use letter spacing on short labels in text views to improve fidelity and mitigate word-length bias for readers making overview estimates.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • task:compare
    • chart:text
    • data:text
    • +3

  19. Add margin-of-error ranges to poll estimates

    For single-poll reporting at a timepoint, use margin-of-error ranges on poll estimate charts to improve fidelity and mitigate false precision for readers comparing close results.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • scope:single-result
    • time:timepoint
    • quality:fidelity
    • +3

  20. Add one suggested variable at a time beyond the current selection

    For early exploration of previously unseen tabular data, use one-variable-ahead suggested views in a multi-view recommendation gallery to improve coverage of overlooked relationships and address exact-match-only browsing for analysts.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • structure:multi-view
    • data:tabular
    • quality:insight:use
    • +2

  21. Add patterns to map regions when confusing colors must remain

    For color-coded maps, prefer texture encoding on filled regions to improve accessibility and mitigate confusing hue distinctions for readers with color-vision deficiency.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:heuristic
    • chart:map
    • data:geospatial
    • quality:accessibility
    • +3

  22. Add pre-study odds and study power beside significance claims

    For interpreting a claimed statistically significant finding from a single study, use text annotation on result displays to improve trust and mitigate p-value-only interpretation for audiences judging research credibility.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • quality:trust:use
    • lever:text-annotation
    • communication:context
    • +2

  23. Add reading instructions to survival curves for novice readers

    For ordered-time risk displays, use text annotation on survival curves to improve readability and mitigate misinterpretation for readers with little or no experience with the graph.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • time:ordered-time
    • chart:line
    • lever:text-annotation
    • +3

  24. Add recognizable pictorial elements when memorability is the goal

    For short-exposure recall of single static visualizations, use pictorial annotation on the chart to improve memorability and mitigate forgettability for viewers scanning many graphics.

    • purpose:refine
    • basis:empirical
    • quality:insight:use
    • lever:encoding
    • component:annotation:use
    • +1