At their best, graphics are instruments for reasoning about quantitative information. Often the most effective way to describe, explore, and summarize a set of numbers—even a very large set of numbers—is to look at pictures of those numbers. Furthermore, of all methods for analyzing and communicating statistical information, well-designed data graphics are usually the simplest and at the same time the most powerful.
ERROR: Invalid Zotero username in config file.

Excellence in statistical graphics consists of complex ideas communicated with clarity, precision, and efficiency.
ERROR: Invalid Zotero username in config file.

Tables usually outperform graphics in reporting small data sets of 20 numbers or less. The special power of graphics comes in the display of large data sets.
ERROR: Invalid Zotero username in config file.

Each part of a graphic generates visual expectations about its other parts and, in the economy of graphical perception, these expectations often determine what the eye sees. Deception results from the incorrect extrapolation of visual expectations generated at one place on the graphic to other places.
ERROR: Invalid Zotero username in config file.

A steady canvas makes for a clearer picture.
ERROR: Invalid Zotero username in config file.

Above all else show the data.
ERROR: Invalid Zotero username in config file.

What is to be sought in designs for the display of information is the clear portrayal of complexity.
ERROR: Invalid Zotero username in config file.

Translating data into a visual format may help reveal patterns that might not otherwise be apparent. Representing data visually on a chart or graph can reveal wider trends and unexpected clusters around specific demographics, geographies or time-periods.
ERROR: Invalid Zotero username in config file.