Aesthetics in visualization

Before we write even a single line of code, we should always sketch out our visualization's design. It is often true that over time, the design will keep changing, based on the nature of the data and the questions asked. This is another reason to use Mathematica to create any prototype, as it saves a lot of time.

Once we have the visualization designed and coded, our next concern should be the perceptibility of our visualization. Does it answer the question we asked? Is it discernible for the user or the audience? In order to tackle these issues, we should be careful about few things.

Choosing the right color map

We have already mentioned in Chapter 4, Statistical and Information Visualization, that even though the rainbow color map is widely used, it is bad. Unfortunately, many of the color maps provided by Mathematica also have the same problem, which makes the rainbow color map harmful. Our visualization is there to help the viewer understand deep inferences about...