research-article

Readability and precision in pictorial bar charts

Authors:

Drew Skau,

Robert KosaraAuthors Info & Claims

EuroVis '17: Proceedings of the Eurographics/IEEE VGTC Conference on Visualization: Short Papers

Pages 91 - 95

https://doi.org/10.2312/eurovisshort.20171139

Published: 12 June 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Bar charts embellished with unique artistic styles, or made to look like real objects, are common in information graphics. Embellishments are typically considered detrimental to readability and accuracy, since they add clutter and noise. Previous work has found that some of the shapes used, like rounded tops, triangles, etc., decreased accuracy when judging relative and absolute sizes, while T-shaped bars even showed a slight increase relative to the basic bar chart.

In this paper, we report on a study that adds pictorial elements to bar charts of four different shapes tested previously, thus also including the elements of color and texture.

We find that pictorial bar charts reduce accuracy, but not beyond the effect already observed for their shape. They also do not significantly increase response time. Embellished bar charts may not be as problematic as commonly assumed.

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Cited By

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Alebri MCostanza EPanagiotidou GBrumby D(2024)Embellishments Revisited: Perceptions of Embellished Visualisations Through the Viewer's LensIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2023.332691430:1(1424-1434)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TVCG.2023.3326914
Alebri MCostanza EPanagiotidou GBrumby DAlthani FBovo R(2024)Visualisations with semantic iconsInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2024.103343191:COnline publication date: 1-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2024.103343
Zeng ZBattle L(2023)A Review and Collation of Graphical Perception Knowledge for Visualization RecommendationProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581349(1-16)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581349

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Published In

EuroVis '17: Proceedings of the Eurographics/IEEE VGTC Conference on Visualization: Short Papers

June 2017

160 pages

Conference Chairs:
Barbora Kozlíková
Masaryk University, Czech Republic
,
Tobias Schreck
Graz University of Technology, Austria
,
Thomas Wischgoll
Wright State University

Publisher

Eurographics Association

Goslar, Germany

Publication History

Published: 12 June 2017

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Alebri MCostanza EPanagiotidou GBrumby D(2024)Embellishments Revisited: Perceptions of Embellished Visualisations Through the Viewer's LensIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2023.332691430:1(1424-1434)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TVCG.2023.3326914
Alebri MCostanza EPanagiotidou GBrumby DAlthani FBovo R(2024)Visualisations with semantic iconsInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2024.103343191:COnline publication date: 1-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2024.103343
Zeng ZBattle L(2023)A Review and Collation of Graphical Perception Knowledge for Visualization RecommendationProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581349(1-16)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581349
Cui WWang JHuang HWang YLin CZhang HZhang D(2022)A Mixed-Initiative Approach to Reusing Infographic ChartsIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2021.311485628:1(173-183)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TVCG.2021.3114856

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Hierarchical Pixel Bar Charts

An evaluation of interactive stacked bar charts

Interactive Stacked Bar Charts: A Usability Study

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