What is text doing in a data visualisation?

Abstract

This article discusses the role that text elements play in a data visualisation. Based on existing knowledge and frameworks for data visualization, we develop a framework that considers text as just another visual element that can be used to encode information, similar to bars and lines and data points. More specifically, we propose that data values can be encoded as the visual features of text, like the position or colour of text, as well as the letters, words, and sentences that make up the text. We make use of this framework to provide a deeper understanding of familiar uses of text, for example, in axes, legends, and titles. In addition, we show that this framework can be used to explore less familiar uses of text in data visualisation.