Lessons from Visualization Research

A collection of principles drawn from evidence-based research:

Visuals make information more memorable

Data visualization can make information more persuasive

Specific titles, relatable objects and redundancy improve memorability

Distortion through data visualization can be deceptive

Including visual elements associated with science, such as graphs, can enhance a message’s persuasiveness

Narrative visualizations work best when combining author- and reader-driven approaches

Crowdsourcing via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk is a viable way to user-test visualizations

The design of visualization can significantly impact an end-user’s interpretation

The visual language is flexible, but conventions emerge around particular arrangements

A "concrete scale" is a technique that can visually express measures of extreme magnitudes or unfamiliar units

Testing different sequences can be an effective way to improve narrative visualization

The Five Design Sheet methodology tests sketches with clients to arrive at usable design

The perception of visualizations, including its accuracy, can be impacted by social influence