visualization-strategy-and-critique
Visualization Strategy and Critique
Overview
Use this skill when the hardest problem is not rendering marks. The hardest problem is deciding what evidence to show, what comparisons matter, what the audience must understand, how the surface should be composed, and which visual form makes that reasoning easiest.
Treat Tufte, Bertin, Cleveland and McGill, Tukey, Munzner, Few, Cairo, Ware, Shneiderman, Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, Amanda Cox, Mike Bostock, and Jen Christiansen as working lenses. Use them to make decisions, not to decorate explanations.
Default assumption: the best interface is largely self-explanatory. If the user would need a paragraph or hover-only behavior to grasp the main comparison, simplify the layout, labeling, or default state before adding more prose.
Mobile and large screens are sibling strategy targets. Unless the user explicitly excludes one, choose a reading path and concept direction for both before treating responsive behavior as an implementation detail.