Treemap in 1991: History
Clip Treemap from a paper and keep the axis sentence, not the colour. Year 1991, line “History,” figure 1991. Colour alone does not carry size. Yes if one claim is visible at a glance in Meta, Google and retail print; otherwise link to a full figure.
Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland, 1991, for disk-space visualization area of nested rectangles for a hierarchy 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.
Treemap: honour area of nested rectangles for a hierarchy, and switch when you need precise comparison of similar sizes. The core mark of Treemap is area of nested rectangles for a hierarchy. part-to-whole with many leaves and a hierarchy The eye compares length and position more accurately than area.
PowerPoint, Excel or Google Sheets and Meta, Google and retail print share the same geometry. Decoration rarely persuades; it slows reading. Perspective distortion wrecks comparison. Keep it flat. Do not stack stories. One Treemap, one claim. Rainbow defaults fail color-blind viewers and grey print. Change Excel or Google Sheets defaults.
Keep axis, unit, and year. If “History” is the axis, the figure is 1991 and the year is 1991.1991
Figures to keep
- Year of the chart
- 1991
- Axis figure
- 1991
- Chart
- Treemap
- How to read it
- History