GraphicalExcellenceinScientific

PresentationsandPapers
Constance Biegel and Prashant V. Kamat
University of Notre Dame

Disclaimer: The views presented here are based on our opinion and does not represent
the publication policy of any specific journal. The graphs cited in this presentation have
not been cited deliberately to avoid any specific criticisms of a publication. These are
presented only as examples. -C. Biegel and P. Kamat

GraphicalExcellence*

Isthewelldesignedpresentationof
interestingdata amatterofsubstance,of
statistics,andofdesign

Consistsofcomplexideascommunicated
withclarity,precision,andefficiency

*pg.51,Tufte,EdwardR.TheVisualDisplayofQuantitative
Information;GraphicsPress:Cheshire,CT,1983;pp1197.

GraphicalExcellence*
Isthatwhichgivestotheviewerthegreatest
numberofideasintheshortesttimewiththe
leastinkinthesmallestspace
Isnearlyalwaysmultivariate
Requirestellingthetruthaboutthedata
*pg.51,Tufte.

WhatareGoodGraphics?
Graphicsthatcommunicateideas
with:
Clarity
Lackofambiguityandconfusion

Precision
Truthfulresults
Distortionfreepresentation

Efficiency
Minimalchartjunk

1.FigureCaptions
Howtophrasegoodfigurecaptions?
Describe(Verticalaxisquantity)vs.(Horizontalaxis
quantity) forExperiment
Includeallimportantexperimentaldetails
Identifymultiplecurvesortraces
Matchthegraphic

Describewhatisgraphed
(Vertical axis quantity) vs. (horizontal axis quantity) for (experiment)

Includeimportantexperimentaldetails

Identifymultiplecurvesortraces
Can you tell which traces are
for the uncrosslinked or
Crosslinked SPEEK?

Figure2.TheFTIRspectrumof(A)Ba,ABa andSBa (B)uncrosslinked andcrosslinked SPEEK withBa and

SBa membranes,respectively.

Captionshouldmatchthegraphic
Different symbols in graph and caption

Captionshouldmatchthegraphic
(ex.2)

2.GoodReadability

Goodresolution
Clear,concise,complete
Fontislegible(size,boldness,fontchoice)
Colorsenhancethegraphicnotdetract
Reproducibility(qualitydoesntimproveupon
reproduction
Colorblindnessanddeficiencies

Allpartsoffigureareidentifiedorexplained
Figureareproofedcarefully

Resolution
Can you tell what you are
looking at?

Image is clear

Anotherexampleofpoor
resolution
What can you make out of these AFM figures?

Beconcise(saveink)
Quickly, can you
describe Fig. d?

Where is description for (d)

or even for (j)

Figure2,a)Photoinducedabsorption(PIA)spectrafor1.4m thickmesoporousTiO2filmssensitizedwithRubpy
TPA(circles)andRubpyMe(lines),pumpedat488nmwithanintensityof128mWcm2andafrequencyof200
Hz.TheopencirclesandthedashedlinecorrespondtotheoutofphasesignalsfortheRubpyTPAandRubpyMe
respectively.b)ThefrequencydependenceofthePIAsignal(dr =(dx2+dy2)at800nm(1.55eV)underthesame
pumpbeamconditionsasabove.c)Transientabsorptionspectroscopy(TAS)oftwosimilarsamplestoabove,Ru
bpyTPA(darksolidcircles,solidline)andRubpyTPA(grayopencircles,dashedline)of thetransientabsorption
signalat650nm(~1.9eVabsorptionoftheoxidizeddyespecies).Thepumpwasat600nmwithapulsewidthof~5
nswith35J/pulseandarepetitionrateof30Hz.

Beconcise(ex.2)
Could this have been presented in a better way?

Beconcise(ex.3)
Can you distinguish these curves?

Clear, concise, easy to read

LegibleFontSize
Font too small

Adequate font size

LegibleFont Avoidboldingtheentire
graphic
Bolding all characters often makes it more difficult to read.
Use bolding only for emphasis.

LegibleFonts

Useboldingselectively
Uselargefontsize
Usebothupperandlowercaseletters
Useseriffont

Colorcanenhanceagraphic
Can you distinguish the
individual spectra?

Proper use of color would have

improved the readability.

Colorcanenhanceagraphic
Hard to distinguish multiple
data series in B&W

Figure2.Normalizedabsorptionspectraofcommercial
AuNP solution([AuNP]=1.13nM)(continuousblackline)
andofAz+AuNP solutionsat[AuNP]=1.02nMandvarious
Az concentrations:0M (continuousgrayline),0.7M
(dashdottedblackline),2.8M (dottedblackline),11
M (dashedblacklineline).Inset:Plasmonpeakposition
dependenceonAz concentrationasobtainedbymulti
peakGaussianfittingprocedure.

Use of color, different data

point symbols greatly improves
readability

Avoidcolorsthatdontreproducewell
Dark backgrounds

Yellow (or other light colors)

Avoidcolorsthataredifficulttodistinguish
Similar looking colors

Considerreaderswithcolorblindness
ordeficiencies
Would a color blind/deficient
person be able to distinguish
these curves?

In a B&W printout, could you

distinguish the different traces ?

Helpreaderswithcolorblindnessor
deficiencies
Identify individual traces with tags (a,b,c)

Proofthefinalversioncarefully
Part of text hidden

Axis label has rotated 90o

Watch for formatting changes

Allpartsoffigure
shouldbeidentified
orexplained
To what are these normalized?

No axis title

UnidentifiedFeatures(ex.2)
What is the significance of colors?

Note: 80-280K in caption

Figure5 Modelfitting(solidline)oftheexperimentaltimeresolvedemissiondata
(dots)ofG4wiresatseveraltemperaturesintherangeof80280K.

UnidentifiedFeatures(ex.3)
Which is a? b?

UnidentifiedFeatures(ex.4)
Dont forget to check the footnotes

UnidentifiedFeatures(ex.5)
What are A, B, C?

UnidentifiedFeatures(ex.6)
What is the red line?

Figure5DecaycurvesofYOSG550sample.

UnidentifiedFeatures(ex.7)
What are these
points? (Dont forget to
identify the insets.)

Figure4.IVplotsunderchoppedilluminationat(PDDA/Q
CdS)n bilayers bydipspinSA
withn=2,4,6,8indeoxygenated0.1MNa2S/0.2MNaOHat
20mV/s(a),anodicandcathodicphotocurrentsvs.nmeasured
fromIVplotsat75110mV,and630665mV,respectively
(insetofa),andphotocurrentactionspectra(%IPCEvs.
wavelength)atbilayers n=2,4,6inthesameelectrolyte(b).

What unit of concentration?

3.LabelAxesClearly
Axis not labeled

Axes clearly labeled

Includeayaxis
y-axis is missing

UsetheCorrect Unit
Wrong Units on Y axis

Correct Y axis

IdentifytheVariable

??

??

UsetheCorrect(!) Variable
The X-axis should be time

Usethesameformat
Different formats

Consistent format

Avoidonlysymbolswithless
commonvariables
No description

Variable is described

4.IncludeaScaleorScaleBar(if
appropriate)
No scale (or units) on y-axis

Scale provided

Note: Molar absoptivity has units of M-1cm-1

Absorbance has no units.

HowtoPresenttheScaleforMultiple
Spectra
Wrong Way

Right Way

Selectscalewisely
What can you conclude from this graph?

ScalebarsinMicrographs
Illegible scale bars are a
common problem

Scale bar clearly indicated

ScalebarsinMicrographs
If font quality cannot be improved the size of the scale bar can be
indicated in the caption. (Just dont forget to include it.)

5.CheckforAccuracy
(Proofyourwork!Typoscanchangethemeaning.)
Author actually studied dGMP, a different chemical than GMP

Figure4a.Asemilog plotofthetimeresolvedemissionofG4wiresanddGMP
infrozenaqueoussolutionatseveraltemperatures.

AccurateLabeling
Which is the Na0.7CoO2 series?

Do not invent new

scientific terms (What is
absorptance?)

GraphicsDisguisedasFigures

There is no causality

Graphs thatarentgraphs
Is there a relationship
between X and Y?

The right way to present

non-causal data

A bar diagram can be used when

comparing the performance of
different samples

Summary(adaptedfromTufte,pg183)
Goodgraphic

Badgraphic

Termsarespelledout
Textrunslefttoright
Dataareclarifiedwithsmallnotes

Legendsvs.labelsdecidewhich
oneisappropriate
Graphicattractsviewer

Colorchoices(blue good)

Fonttypeisclear,precise,modest
Upper&lowercase,withserifs
Graphicsshouldtendtowardthe
horizontal,greaterinlengththan
height.

Excessiveabbreviationstodecode
Textinverticalormultipledirections
Graphicrequiresrepeatedreferences
toscatteredtext
Repeatedbackandforthbetween
legendandgraphicrequired
Graphicisrepellent,filledwith
chartjunk
Darklettersondarkcontrast(Red&
green)
Typeisdense,heavy,overbearing
Alluppercase,sansserif