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How to Choose a Visualization

3D
Using 3D can distort the perception of sizes and therefore the representation of your data.
Circles
Be cautious when using circles. Humans have a hard time seeing the difference between circle sizes. Are these circles the same size? what about the rectangles?
Continuous vs. discrete
When you use a connecting line between points to represent data, it can indicate that the places between points may hold information as well, AKA continuous (e.g. time). Using separate shapes can indicate that there is no data in between points (e.g. categorical values like department)
Preattentive shape
A different shape draws the attention of the view right away, so this can be used to emphasize a point. Our eyes perceive a limited number of objects at once so will automatically group like shapes as one object, thus bringing the different shape to the forefront of the mind.

 

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