6. Design your visualization.

Design for clarity

Help your audience understand your data visualization by keeping it simple. Less is more. Simplify your data visualization so that it clearly illustrates the point you are trying to make and does not distract your audience with unnecessary information.

• Remove chart clutter. Remove unnecessary elements from charts, including borders, gridlines, distortions, backgrounds, and redundant labels.
• Clarify with text. Give your data visualization a clear title that will be understandable to somebody not familiar with the subject matter; you may want to write the takeaway finding in the title of your chart. Use direct labels where applicable to help your audience quickly understand what they are looking at.
• Use plain language. Use language that is familiar to your audience and avoid jargon. Be succinct—using short sentences and paragraphs. For more information on plain language visit plainlanguage.gov.
• Test your viz with somebody with less knowledge of the data source. Share a draft of your visualization with somebody less familiar with the data to make sure they can understand what you’re trying to show with your data.

Provide context

It is difficult for people to interpret data without context. Help your audience understand the data you are presenting by providing context, such as including trend data or comparison groups as a point of reference. Including meaningful chart titles, subtitles, and other text can also help your audience more easily interpret your data visualizations.

• Provide access to the underlying data. Consider publishing the data used to create your data visualizations as open data to provide greater transparency and to allow users to conduct their own analysis. Connecticut state agencies can publish data on the CT Open Data Portal, which also provides APIs for each dataset that can be used to bring data into some data visualization programs.
• Provide a text summary of the visualization. Describe the trends or patterns in the visualization in text that accompanies the visualization. This will help users understand what they are seeing in the data visualization and will also make the information more accessible to users navigating with screen readers.
• Keep equity in mind as you design. Center equity in your data visualizations, by considering the perspectives of individuals and communities represented in the data and the social, economic, and racial context. For example, avoid the use of colors and icons that may reinforce gender or racial stereotypes, and use people-centered language. More guidance on equity and data visualization can be found in the Equity section of these guidelines.