Is “chart junk” useful? An extended examination of visual embellishment

Abstract

Although many well-cited theories or guidelines for visualization design advocate ‘minimalism’, designers tend to include a wide variety of visual embellishments in their charts. Researchers have examined the effects of visual embellishment on comprehension and memorability of charts under specific conditions, such as charts with a small number of data points that were viewed with no time limit (Bateman et al., 2010). This paper extends previous studies and investigates the effects of visual embellishment given different time limits for viewing these charts. Similar to the Bateman et al. (2010) study, we compared embellished charts (selected from the work of Nigel Holmes) and plain, grayscale charts, but we limited our selection to those that consisted of larger data sets (10 or more data points). Results showed that the presence of a time limit affected comprehension and short-term recall performance, while the type of chart significantly affected short-term recall. In addition, the type of chart affected the time needed to review the chart while answering the questions. Participants found Holmes charts more attractive and memorable.