Storytelling with Data

chapter threeidentify & eliminate clutter

Every element we put in our graphs or on the pages and slides that contain them adds cognitive burden—each one consumes brainpower to process. We should take a discerning look at the elements we allow into our visual communications and strip away those things that aren’t adding enough informative value to make up for their presence.

This lesson is simple but the impact is huge: get rid of the stuff that doesn’t need to be there. We’ll illustrate and experience the power of doing so through a handful of targeted exercises in this chapter.

Let’s practice identifying and eliminating clutter!

First, we’ll review the main lessons from SWD Chapter 3.

Exercise 3.1: which Gestalt principles are in play?

The Gestalt principles describe ways in which we subconsciously bring order to the things we see. SWD introduced six of these principles: proximity, similarity, enclosure, closure, continuity, and connection. We can use the Gestalt principles to make our visual communications easier for our audience to process by helping make the connections ...