Paper Info
Title
Minimalism in information visualization: attitudes towards maximizing the data-ink ratio
Abstract
Motivation -- To evaluate people's acceptance of the minimalist approach to information visualization. Research approach -- Eighty seven students, divided into three experimental conditions, rated their preference for two different graphs displaying identical information - a standard bar-graph and a minimalist version. Both versions were taken from Tufte (1983). Findings/Design -- The results indicate a clear preference of non-minimalist bar-graphs, suggesting low acceptance of minimalist design principles such as high data-ink ratio. Research limitations/Implications -- Subjects had no prior experience with the minimalist graph and therefore familiarity might have an effect on the results. Originality/Value -- The research contributes empirical results on people's preferences to the mostly theoretical/ideological debate over approaches to the presentation of quantitative information. Take away message -- People did not like Tufte's minimalist design of bar-graphs; they seem to prefer "chartjunk" instead.
Year
DOI
Venue
2007
10.1145/1362550.1362587
ECCE
Keywords
DocType
Citations 
minimalist design,minimalist design principle,research limitation,minimalist approach,minimalist graph,data-ink ratio,quantitative information,information visualization,research approach,identical information,minimalist version,chartjunk
Conference
11
PageRank 
References 
Authors
1.56
4
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Ohad Inbar1748.88
Noam Tractinsky22958265.07
Joachim Meyer31008.55