Post by @helenajambor@mastodon.social

2025-06-18 08:17 UTC

I gave in! After students asked for one for years, I have now made a simple figure design checklist. To help all scientists w/o graphic design training create clearer, more accessible, and truthful charts! --&gt; Out in @nature Cell Biology: https://rdcu.be/erwl4 --&gt; link to blog: https://helenajamborwrites.netlify.app/posts/25-6_ncb/ (with link to download checklist as pdf) #DataVisualization #PhD #SciComm Thx my reviewers Beth Cimini &amp; 2 anon, and early comments from Tracey, @steveroyle, James Saenz, and Alenka Gucek

Replies (2)

@michelle@front-end.social 2025-06-18 08:26

@helenajambor Thank you for this, I’m going to share it with my data scientist colleagues! ❤️ @steveroyle @nature

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@Lapizistik@social.tchncs.de 2026-02-26 14:47

@helenajambor @steveroyle @nature Great checklist. One addition: if your scales don't start at zero: indicate this clearly, not only in text but also visually (especially for bar charts etc), i.e.: learn how lying with graphs works and avoid all of it. Bonus points for typography nerds: use a font that is also used for text/headings in the paper itself. Extra: use font sizes that are also used in the paper itself. This also means: don't just scale down the image (as a scaled down font is _not_ the same as a smaller font size). Oh, and (if the publication allows you to do this): use vector graphics (e.g. directly generated pdf), not bitmap. If bitmaps are required by the publisher: tiff or png, not jpeg.

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