Minimalism in graphics

  • Authors:

  • Douglas J. Gillan;Edward Richman;Michael Neary

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Idaho Moscow, ID;University of Idaho Moscow, ID;University of Idaho Moscow, ID

  • Venue:
  • CHI '92 Posters and Short Talks of the 1992 SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 1992

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Abstract

Two experiments examined Tufte's rule that graphs should use minimal "ink" (or filled pixels) to display data [2]. Experiment 1 showed that the time to answer questions using a graph constructed according to Tufte's rule (no axes and minimal indicators) was 13% faster than for a more traditional graph with axes and full indicators. Experiment 2 demonstrated that (a) the advantage of the minimal graph was due to eliminating the Y-axis, (b) the ink in the indicators had no effect and, (c) the presence of an X-axis improved performance.