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Summary: 60 CommuniCations oF the aCm | APRIL 2011 | vOL. 54 | nO. 4
contributed articles
IllustratIonbyMarkskIllIcorn
VISuAL communIcATIon VIA diagrams, sketches,
charts, photographs, video, and animation is
fundamental to the process of exploring concepts
and disseminating information. The most-effective
visualizations capitalize on the human facility for
processing visual information, thereby improving
comprehension, memory, and inference. Such
visualizations help analysts quickly find patterns
lurking within large data sets and help audiences
quickly understand complex ideas.
Over the past two decades a number of books10,15,18,23
have collected examples of effective visual displays.
One thing is evident from inspecting them: the best
are carefully crafted by skilled human designers.
Yet even with the aid of computers, hand-designing
effective visualizations is time-consuming and
requires considerable effort. More-
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