The Functional Art: An introduction to information graphics and visualization (Voices That Matter)

That is, choose the visual form that will most efficiently and most accurately convey the data’s meaning.

Good complexity, in contrast, emerges from visualizations that use more data than humans can reasonably process to form a few salient points.

Anything that stands out becomes part of the narrative we’re trying to form, so what’s presented becomes a crucial factor in the success of the chart—its ability to convey the idea the chart maker wants it to.