Small tweaks that make big differences
Sep 16, 2024
It's one of those days that a web search led me to an unfamiliar corner, and I found myself poring over a pile of column charts that look like this:
This pair of charts appears to be canonical in a type of genetics analysis. I'll focus on the column chart up top.
The chart plots a variety of gene functions along the horizontal axis. These functions are classified into three broad categories, indicated using axis annotation.
What are some small tweaks that readers will enjoy?
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First, use colors. Here is an example in which the designer uses color to indicate the function classes:
The primary design difference between these two column charts is using three colors to indicate the three function classes. This little change makes it much easier to recognize the ending of one class and the start of the other.
Color doesn't have to be limited to column areas. The following example extends the colors to the axis labels:
Again, just a smallest of changes but it makes a big difference.
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It bugs me a lot that the long axis labels are printed in a slanted way, forcing every serious reader to read with slanted heads.
Slanting it the other way doesn't help:
Vertical labels are best read...
These vertical labels are best read while doing side planks.
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I'm surprised the horizontal alignment is rather rare. Here's one: