3.17 ToDG: Data density and small multiples (3)
- Tufte (2001, 2:175): "Well-designed small multiples are
- inevitably comparative
- deftly multivariate
- shrunken, high-density graphics
- usually based on a large data matrix
- drawn almost entirely with data-ink
- efficient in interpretation
- often narrative in content, showing shifts in the relationship between variables as the index variable changes (thereby revealing interaction or multiplicative effects )."
- Small multiples reflect much of the theory of data graphics:
- For non-data-ink, less is more.
- For data-ink, less is a bore. (Tufte 2001, 2:175)
References
Tufte, Edward R. 2001. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Vol. 2. Graphics press Cheshire, CT.