Legend Guidelines

Legends give context to various numerical or textual value. They help users to get a high-level overview of the success of specific intentions.

Structure

  1. Name of the notion
  2. Value of the notion
  3. Supplementary explanation
  4. Supplementary explanation value

Best practices

Legends should:

  • Be used to outsource information from the plot area of the chart to explain all the displayed visual elements.
  • Be used to give standalone information about the exact value of a variable.
  • Be used as to guide users through more complex visualizations, so they don’t have to only rely on their visual perception.
  • Use appropriate color to the context (of the page) and it's meaning.

Content guidelines

Types:

  1. Total numeric value: the outcome is a natural number
  2. Percentage value: the outcome is a rate number. In some cases it is essential to provide the original number from which the percentage is calculated.
  3. Textual value: the outcome is a string.
  4. Hybrid value: the mixture of the options mentioned above.