VISUALIZATIONS
WHAT WORKS WITH HUMANS?
HUMAN PERCEPTION
SHAPES
“Participants were more accurate when they compared the sizes of bars of unequal lengths. Squares and circles were not much different. All three shapes fared better than cubes.”
Great choice!
Works ok!
Don’t
HUMAN PERCEPTION
PROPORTIONS
“[..] pie charts were read as easily, quickly and accurately as bar charts, but as the number of components in the chart increased, bars become less efficient encoding the data. The opposite was true for pie charts.”
Pie charts work well
for proportions
Bar charts are better for segment-to-segment comparisons
HUMAN PERCEPTION
TRENDS
“People have a hard time seeing messages in line charts beyond trends.”
Use line charts for trends
Use bar charts for contrasts
HUMAN PERCEPTION
TRENDS
“[...] any chart allowing the reader to see a real or imaginary trend line was the best at communicating change”
Use line charts for trends
Include trends lines in bar charts for developments
HUMAN PERCEPTION
CORRELATION
“When the same correlation is represented in two graphs, but in one graph the scale is blown out so the point cloud becomes very small, people perceive it as having a higher correlation”
Lower perceived correlation
Higher perceived correlation, same data
HUMAN PERCEPTION
SERIES
“[...] humans can most accurately discern variations in color in scatter plot symbols”
Use color to discern data series
Symbols work, but not as good
HUMAN PERCEPTION
3D
“[...] 3D graphics, while glitzy and sexy, do not convey any additional information and force the reader to deal with redundant and extraneous cues.”
Don’t use 3D, unless the third dimension conveys information
HUMAN PERCEPTION
PATIENCE
“[...] a latency of a half a second with interactive graphics has profound effects on the way a viewer engages with the graphic”
“[...] a one second delay was found to be unusable.”
REFERENCES
Fundamentals of Data Visualization - Chapter 5
https://serialmentor.com/dataviz/directory-of-visualizations.html
Data Visualisations: Contributions to Evidence-based decision making�https://social.shorthand.com/SciDevNet/3geA2Kw4B5c/data-visualisation-contributions-to-evidence-based-decision-making
39 Studies about Human Perception in 30 Minutes
https://medium.com/@kennelliott/39-studies-about-human-perception-in-30-minutes-4728f9e31a73