Setting the Purpose and Identifying Key Factors - Data Visualization: A Successful Design Process - page 35

"A visualization is more effective than another visualization if the information
conveyed by one visualization is more readily perceived than the information in
the other."
This quote perfectly captures the priority and intent behind pragmatic or analytical
visualizations. Some might term them simple or boring but that is short-sighted and
lacking in appreciation for the setting in which these types of data portrayal is vital.
Designs that fit this classification will often involve data being represented through
the use of bar charts, line charts and dot plots, for example. Stylistically, they will be
characterized by a rather clinical look-and-feel that is consistent with the next sample
image, taken from a project analyzing Olympic results over the years:
Creating a visualization with a pragmatic tone is about recognizing a need for a
design that delivers fast, efficient and precise portrayals of data. Typically, you will
have a captive audience, a readership who want to or need to interact and learn from
the data. This could be a corporate environment, where people need to simply learn
about recent performance of operational activity or undertake visual analysis to
discover potentially revealing patterns.