Impressions
The readings on Profiles in Badness initially caused some anxiety around how easy it may be for designers to create misleading graphs. However, upon closer examination and comprehension, the main points were too sound to be forgotten once articulated.
Takeaways
The arguments I heard loud and clear were:
• Never truncate the y-axis (Bar, Area)
• Fit plot to your data points (Scatter, Line)
• Use ink that is proportional to data
• Aesthetically: simplify, avoid junk
Thoughts
Ongoing debates referenced that I think intriguing to perhaps discuss and pick apart at another time:
• How do we make judgement calls on whether research studies proving certain visual perceptions present in most readers should be re-trained by persisting with new visual techniques (evolve), or which are innately a weak-point ("leave-alone", humans cannot "unsee")?
• When were 3D charts ever a thing?
• On creating "memorable" charts and graphics - when is it wise, or when does it oversimplify dynamic data trends as a "fact of truth"?