Formatting rules

The following formatting rules encompass fonts, lines, and bands. Fonts are, of course, an obvious formatting consideration. Lines and bands, however, may not be something you typically think of when formatting – especially when considering formatting from the perspective of Microsoft Word. But if we broaden formatting considerations to think of Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and other graphic design tools, lines and bands are certainly considered. This illustrates that data visualization is closely related to graphic design and that formatting considers much more than just textual layout.

Rule: keep the font choice simple

Typically, using one or two fonts on a dashboard is advisable. More fonts can create...