How to make figures that don’t suck?

Don’t do this!

Do this!

Ask Edward Tufte

Ask Edward Tufte

The Visual Display Of Quantitative Information

10 simple rules

1. know your audience

2. identify your message

2.1 salience to relevance

2.2 tell a story

3. adapt to the medium

4. use captions

5. don’t trust the defaults

6. use colour (effectively)

6.1 use shapes (instead)

7. do not mislead

8. avoid junk

9. message > beauty

10. get the right tools

How to make figures that don’t suck?

1. know your audience 2. identify your message 3. adapt to the medium

4. use captions

5. don’t trust the defaults

6. use colour

7. do not mislead

8. avoid junk

9. message > beauty

10. get the right tools

๏ Rougier et al. (2014). Ten Simple Rules for Better Figures. PLoS Comput Biol 10(9): e1003833.

๏ 35 Points of View columns in Nature Methods

๏ ggplot theme for publication ready Plots (https://rpubs.com/Koundy/71792)

๏ Tufte EG (1983) The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Cheshire, Connecticut: Graphics Press.

๏ Doumont JL (2009) Trees, maps, and theorems. Brussels: Principiae.