What exactly makes a graph effective, versus what makes a graph a cluttered collection of overinformation, is a constant matter of discussion and research. Researchers from NC State and the University of Idaho have presented results of some interesting work at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
To determine whether design elements — such as background pictures — affect a viewer’s ability to read a graph, the researchers ran an experiment using rectangular bar graphs. They tested how accurately people could read the bar graph when it was presented against three different backgrounds: a blank background, a background filled with rectangles, and a background filled with circles.
