Chartjunk

The purpose of decoration varies—to make the graphic appear more scientific and precise, to enliven the display, to give the designer an opportunity to exercise artistic skills.

Tufte, in coining the term chartjunk, also made direct comments about a well-known designer at that time, Nigel Holmes.

"[1]Further, in his second published book, Envisioning Information,[7] Tufte critiques Holmes' Diamonds chart:[8]"Consider this unsavory exhibit at right – chockablock with cliché and stereotype, coarse humor, and a content-empty third dimension...

Holmes admits his work has sometimes been exaggerated, but feels that Tufte, in his insistence on absolute mathematical fidelity, remains trapped in ’the world of academia’ and insensitive to ’the world of commerce,’ with its need to grab an audience"This debate between Tufte and Holmes is emblematic of the tension between statistical and designerly approaches to visualization design.

"[10] Robert Kosara, also a data visualization practitioner, researcher, and author of the blog EagerEyes, noted that not all chartjunk are the same, some are harmful (e.g. a busy background), others harmless (e.g. nice borders or pictures), and some even helpful (e.g.

[5][13] A recent study[12] found that chartjunk, in the form of semantically meaningful icons, increased accessibility of charts for people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD).