ABSTRACT
The visualization of information plays a vital role in translating complex data sets into legible formats. Visualizations turn metrical values into effective communication tools to show patterns and trends. Visualization formats have their own rhetoric and the arguments they make are rooted in their graphical organization and presentation. Most spreadsheet and database programs will generate graphs without much difficulty but give little guidance on how graphics produce meaning. A few basic principles help understand how to choose the right graphic for the task and how to make use of labels, ordering, and other features. Network graphs pose their own interpretative challenges, and as a subset of visualizations, require specialized understanding of the ways they are produced.
