Effectiveness

A visualization is effective if it addresses the capabilities of the human visual system. Since perception, and hence the mental image of a visual representation, varies among users, effectiveness is user-dependent. Nonetheless, some general rules for effective visualization have been established in the visualization community.

Effectiveness criteria identify which of these graphical languages [that are expressive], in a given situation, is the most effective at exploiting the capabilities of the output medium and the human visual system.

[Mackinlay, 1986]

see also: Expressiveness, Appropriateness

References

• [Mackinlay 1986] Jock Mackinlay. Automating the Design of Graphical Presentations of Relational Information. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 5(2):110-141, 1986.
• [Schumann and Müller, 2000] Heidrun Schumann and Wolfgang Müller, Visualisierung - Grundlagen und allgemeine Methoden. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2000.
• [Tominski, 2006] Christian Tominski, Event-Based Visualization for User-Centered Visual Analysis, PhD Thesis, Institute for Computer Science, Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Rostock, 2006.