Some principles for the effective display of data

Abstract

Since computers can produce output at a high rate, it is often useful for it to put that output in a form that facilitates human analysis. There has been much research on the human factors of displays; from this research, we can evolve principles to guide the effective display of computer output. The two main principles described here are the principle of proportional effect, which guides the encoding of a datum's identity and value, and the principle of least effort, which minimizes the effort needs to scan, and perceive and interpret the display. Some of these ideas are illustrated using data generated by a neural simulation.