Mar 29, 2017 · It's mostly common sense stuff when we stop and think about it: get rid of the visual elements in your graphs that are unnecessary. Doing so can have a profound impact. Yet too often, we don't take the time to do this. To illustrate the …

Jan 10, 2021 · We should aim to identify and eliminate clutter so that our graphs feel approachable and less complicated. This article shows one example of a decluttering process.

May 18, 2023 · In data storytelling, you want your signal (insight) to be understood and acted on by your audience. Frequently, noise in the data or design can interfere with your message. In this article, I review five categories of potential clutter and provide recommendations on how to avoid clutter in the data scenes of your data stories.

Jun 3, 2016 · A good practice after creating a chart is to take a step back, identify unnecessary elements (chart clutter), and remove them. Repeat this process until nothing else can be removed because every element of the visualization has a purpose and supports the objective of …

May 13, 2019 · By reducing clutter, the audience can use their precious brainpower to decide what potential actions might be warranted, rather than trying to figure out how to read the graph. Taking time to modify the default settings means we can focus on the data and the message.

Jan 30, 2024 · In this post, I have created a line chart with sales revenue by two locations, including a title, X/Y axes, legend, all the data labels. Looks good, doesn’t it? Using this line chart as an...

A frequent source of clutter in data visualization comes from unnecessary graph elements: borders, gridlines, data markers, and the like. These can make our visuals appear overly complicated and increase the work our audience has to undertake in order to understand what they are viewing.

Apr 23, 2025 · Here are my top tips for making clean, impactful graphs in Excel. Eliminate Clutter Clutter is the enemy of effective communication. Every unnecessary element in a chart increases cognitive load and distracts from the key message. To streamline your graphs: Remove chart borders – Borders add visual noise. Unless you have a specific reason to ...

Mar 19, 2025 · In the context of data visualization, a cluttered graph or chart can spike cognitive load, forcing stakeholders to spend more time deciphering the layout than understanding the insights. If you’re a geoscientist sharing data in graphs and charts, keeping cognitive load to a minimum is vital.

Here is a good example that takes a cluttered graphic from viz.wtf and gets rid of the unnecessary elements. This example comes from the website Storytelling with data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic. The idea of the chart is to show that women tend …