Graphics serve five main functions: to catch attention, communicate difficult information visually, clarify and emphasize information, help non-native English speakers understand, and communicate to diverse audiences. There are guidelines for creating different types of graphics such as tables, bar graphs, pie charts, photographs and line drawings. Effective graphics are simple, focused, labeled and meet audience expectations.

1. Graphics serve five functions:
• They can catch readers’ attention and interest.
• They can help writers communicate information that is
difficult to communicate with words.
• They can help writers clarify and emphasize
information.
• They can help nonnative speakers of English
understand information.
• They can help writers communicate information to
multiple audiences with different interests, aptitudes,
and reading habits.
Chapter 12. Creating Graphics © 2012 by Bedford/St. Martin's 1

2. Graphics offer benefits
that words alone cannot:
• Graphics are indispensable in demonstrating logical
and numerical relationships.
• Graphics can communicate spatial information more
effectively than words alone.
• Graphics can communicate steps in a process more
effectively than words alone.
• Graphics can save space.
• Graphics can reduce the cost of documents intended
for international readers.
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3. An effective graphic has five characteristics:
• It serves a purpose.
• It is simple and uncluttered.
• It presents a manageable amount of
information.
• It meets readers’ format expectations.
• It is clearly labeled.
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4. Follow these six suggestions
to create honest graphics:
• Cite your source and obtain permission.
• Include all relevant data.
• Begin the axes in your graphs at zero—or mark
them clearly.
• Do not use a table to hide a data point that
would be obvious in a graph.
• Show items as they really are.
• Do not use color or shading to misrepresent an
item’s importance.
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5. Follow these five guidelines
for integrating graphics and text:
• Place the graphic in an appropriate location.
• Introduce the graphic in the text.
• Explain the graphic in the text.
• Make the graphic clearly visible.
• Make the graphic accessible.
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6. The process of creating
graphics includes four steps:
• planning
• producing
• revising
• citing
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7. As you plan graphics,
consider the following:
• audience
• purpose of the graphic and the document
• kind of information you want to communicate
• physical conditions in which readers will use the
document
• time
• money
• equipment
• expertise
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8. When producing graphics, choose
one of the following four approaches:
• use existing graphics
• modify existing graphics
• create graphics on a computer
• have someone else create the graphics
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9. Use color effectively:
• Don’t overdo it.
• Use color to emphasize particular items.
• Use color to create patterns.
• Use contrast effectively.
• Take advantage of any symbolic meanings
colors may already have.
• Be aware that color can obscure or
swallow up text.
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10. Use color to establish patterns:
Source: Myers, 2010, p. 72.
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11. Use color to create effective contrast:
The text is hard to read because of insufficient
contrast.
Effective contrast makes the text easier to read.
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12. Choose the category of technical
information you want to communicate:
• numerical information
• logical relationships
• process descriptions and instructions
• visual and spatial characteristics
Chapter 12. Creating Graphics © 2012 by Bedford/St. Martin's 12

13. Five kinds of graphics help
illustrate numerical information:
• tables
• bar graphs
• pictographs
• line graphs
• pie charts
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14. Two kinds of graphics help
illustrate logical relationships:
• diagrams
• organization charts
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15. Three kinds of graphics help illustrate
process descriptions and instructions:
• checklists
• flowcharts
• logic trees
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16. Four kinds of graphics help illustrate visual
and spatial characteristics:
• photographs
• screen shots
• line drawings
• maps
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17. A typical table has these parts:
Table number
Table title
Column head
Column subheads
Stub
Row
Data cell
Source
statement
Footnotes
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18. Follow these nine guidelines
for creating effective tables:
• Indicate the units of measure.
• In the stub (the left-hand column), list the
items being compared.
• In the columns, arrange the data clearly and
logically.
• Do the math.
• Use dot leaders if a column contains a “blank”
spot: a place where there are no appropriate
data.
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19. Follow these nine guidelines
for creating effective tables (cont.):
• Don’t make the table wider than it needs to be.
• Minimize the use of rules.
• Provide footnotes where necessary.
• If you did not generate the information
yourself, indicate your source.
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20. Horizontal and vertical
bar graphs look like this:
Chapter 12. Creating Graphics © 2012 by Bedford/St. Martin's 20

21. Follow these six guidelines
for creating effective bar graphs:
• Make the proportions fair.
• If possible, begin the quantity scale at zero.
• Use tick marks (marks along the axis) to
signal the amounts.
• Arrange the bars in a logical sequence.
• Place the title below the figure.
• Indicate the source of your information if you
did not generate it yourself.
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22. This is an effective bar graph:
Chapter 12. Creating Graphics © 2012 by Bedford/St. Martin's 22

23. The basic bar graph has five variations:
• grouped bar graph
• subdivided bar graph
• 100-percent bar graph
• deviation bar graph
• stratum graph
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24. This is an effective pictograph:
Chapter 12. Creating Graphics © 2012 by Bedford/St. Martin's 24

25. This pictograph is misleading:
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26. Follow these three guidelines
for creating effective line graphs:
• If possible, begin the quantity scale at zero.
• Use reasonable proportions for the vertical
and horizontal axes.
• Use grid lines—horizontal, vertical, or both—
rather than tick marks when your readers
need to read the quantities precisely.
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27. This is an effective line graph:
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28. Follow these eight guidelines
for creating effective pie charts:
• Restrict the number of slices to six or seven.
• Begin with the largest slice at the top and work
clockwise in order of decreasing size.
• Include a miscellaneous slice for very small
quantities.
• Label the slices (horizontally, not radially)
inside the slice.
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29. Follow these eight guidelines
for creating effective pie charts (cont.):
• To emphasize one slice, use a bright,
contrasting color or separate the slice from the
pie.
• Check to see that your software follows the
appropriate guidelines for pie charts.
• Don’t overdo fill patterns.
• Check that your percentages add up to 100.
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30. How effective is this graphic?
Source: Defense Intelligence Agency,
2003 <www.dia.mil/thisisdia/
DIA_Workforce_of_the_Future.pdf>.
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31. Use these four techniques to show motion:
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32. Follow these five guidelines
for presenting photographs effectively:
• Eliminate extraneous background clutter that
can distract readers.
• Do not electronically manipulate the
photograph.
• Help readers understand the perspective.
• If appropriate, include a common object to
give readers a sense of scale.
• If appropriate, label components or important
features.
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33. Line drawings offer three
advantages over photographs:
• Line drawings can focus readers’ attention on
desired information better than a photograph
can.
• Line drawings can highlight information that
might be obscured by bad lighting or a bad
angle in a photograph
• Line drawings are sometimes easier for
readers to understand than photographs are.
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34. Line drawings offer a unique
advantage over other graphics:
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35. The basic line drawing has three variations:
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36. Follow these six guidelines for creating
effective graphics for multicultural readers:
• Be aware that reading patterns differ.
• Be aware of varying cultural attitudes toward
giving instruction.
• Deemphasize trivial details.
• Avoid culture-specific language, symbols, and
references.
• Portray people very carefully.
• Be particularly careful in portraying hand
gestures.
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