Conceiving and Reasoning Visualization Design Options - Data Visualization: A Successful Design Process - page 110

Observe the positioning of the chapter navigation slider across the top, the size of
the space afforded to the main map display, the narrative found on the right-hand
side, the proximity of the legend to the data, and the location of the pan and zoom
device—all these decisions are very deliberate and designed to maximize the logic
and meaning behind the layout of this project's data, its interactive features and
annotated elements.
Image from "The Growth of Newspapers Across the U.S.: 1690-2011" ( http://www.stanford.edu/group/
ruralwest/cgi-bin/drupal/visualizations/us_newspapers ), created by Rural West Initiative, Bill
Lane Center for the American West, Stanford University.
On the matter of arrangement, it is important to mention an important paper
produced by Edward Segal and Jeff Heer of the Stanford Vis group and titled
Narrative Visualization: Telling Stories with Data ( http://vis.stanford.edu/
papers/narrative ).
As the title suggests, this article provides an excellent outline of the different design
strategies for arranging and structuring the layout of your visualizations that will
help maximize the potential telling of stories through data.