Heatmap in : Pretty equals true
Heatmap decides what is being compared in under “Pretty equals true.” The figure that must stay on the axis is 1873. Drawing it larger does not create a unit. Look first for a cut axis and a missing key. A legend is weaker than a direct label. Write beside the mark when you can.
When the story is: patterns across two categorical axes at once. Skip it in cases like: precise lookup of a number, or a rainbow that is not color-blind safe. Toussaint Loua’s 1873 crime tables; later Toussaint/Bertin and 1990s gene arrays color value of a cell in a row-column grid
Yes if one claim is visible at a glance in Meta, Google and retail print; otherwise link to a full figure. Yes for lab reports and poster boards if axes, units and a source line are present. Excel or Google Sheets or PowerPoint; export SVG/PDF. Do not rely on hue alone. Label directly and check greyscale.
Heatmap: honour color value of a cell in a row-column grid, and switch when precise lookup of a number, or a rainbow that is not color-blind safe. The core mark of Heatmap is color value of a cell in a row-column grid. patterns across two categorical axes at once The eye compares length and position more accurately than area.
Read Heatmap as , “Pretty equals true,” and 1873. A bar with no unit is not those three.1873
Figures to keep
- Year of the chart
- 1873
- Axis figure
- 1873
- Chart
- Heatmap
- How to read it
- Pretty equals true