Ten Simple Rules for Better Figures
科研绘图十大简单设计原则
Ten Simple Rules for Better Figures
Rule 1: Know Your Audience
原则1：了解你的读者
Given the definition above, problems arise when how a visual is perceived differs significantly from the intent of the conveyer. Consequently, it is important to identify, as early as possible in the design process, the audience and the message the visual is to convey. The graphical design of the visual should be informed by this intent. If you are making a figure for yourself and your direct collaborators, you can possibly skip a number of steps in the design process, because each of you knows what the figure is about. However, if you intend to publish a figure in a scientific journal, you should make sure your figure is correct and conveys all the relevant information to a broader audience. Student audiences require special care since the goal for that situation is to explain a concept. In that case, you may have to add extra information to make sure the concept is fully understood. Finally, the general public may be the most difficult audience of all since you need to design a simple, possibly approximated, figure that reveals only the most salient part of your research (Figure 1). This has proven to be a difficult exercise [3].
Rule 2: Identify Your Message
原则2：清楚你要表达的信息
A figure is meant to express an idea or introduce some facts or a result that would be too long (or nearly impossible) to explain only with words, be it for an article or during a time-limited oral presentation. In this context, it is important to clearly identify the role of the figure, i.e., what is the underlying message and how can a figure best express this message? Once clearly identified, this message will be a strong guide for the design of the figure, as shown in Figure 2. Only after identifying the message will it be worth the time to develop your figure, just as you would take the time to craft your words and sentences when writing an article only after deciding on the main points of the text. If your figure is able to convey a striking message at first glance, chances are increased that your article will draw more attention from the community.
Rule 5: Do Not Trust the Defaults
原则5：不要依赖绘图软件的默认设置
Any plotting library or software comes with a set of default settings. When the end-user does not specify anything, these default settings are used to specify size, font, colors, styles, ticks, markers, etc. (Figure 4). Virtually any setting can be specified, and you can usually recognize the specific style of each software package (Matlab, Excel, Keynote, etc.) or library (LaTeX, matplotlib, gnuplot, etc.) thanks to the choice of these default settings. Since these settings are to be used for virtually any type of plot, they are not fine-tuned for a specific type of plot. In other words, they are good enough for any plot but they are best for none. All plots require at least some manual tuning of the different settings to better express the message, be it for making a precise plot more salient to a broad audience, or to choose the best colormap for the nature of the data. For example, see [4] for how to go from the default settings to a nicer visual in the case of the matplotlib library.
Conclusion（总结）：
以上3点内容均摘录自Nicolas P. Rougier等作者的总结。文末可下载其PDF全文内容。
- 原则1中提到的了解读者。换句话就是：你设计的图是给谁看？确定了读者，才能确定图的内容是否需要详细标注，是否可以省略一些业内共识信息；
- 原则2中提到的清楚你要表达的信息。是指在作图的过程中，你的脑海中应该清楚这张图代表了好几段文字描述。所以，都要在图中不言自喻哪些内容？这一点应该时刻记在脑海中；
- 也就是原则5，其提到的不要依赖绘图软件的默认设置。是在提醒很多同学，切莫认为数据图出来了，就万事大吉了。且看文中的两张同样的数据图前后的对比。假如你是审稿人，你更喜欢哪一张呢？
想了解更多更详细的科研绘图十大设计原则。赶紧去下载全文内容吧！
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