ABSTRACT
The consequent refinements provide suggestions for good design, and the process of refinement provides suggestions for uncovering design principles. Like written language, visualizations are cognitive tools, designed to augment the capacity of the human mind. Creating effective visualizations, as found in instructions, textbooks, and other media, requires collaboration between graphic designers and domain experts, as well as testing the target audience. Visualizations of systems, too, are ancient; frescoes in Egyptian tombs show how crops are grown and harvested. To make visualizations that are congruent with the desired mental representations requires techniques that reveal those internal mental representations. Creating effective visualizations entails numerous design decisions, as illustrated by a few examples. Route maps and assembly instructions belong to a larger class of visualizations that are used in many contexts and for many purposes, including practical, educational, and aesthetic. Visualizations use elements as well as space to convey meaning.
