What’s Cognitive Load Got to Do with It?

Cognitive load is basically how hard your brain has to work to understand something. When we show charts that are cluttered, color-chaotic, or missing a clear message, we force our audience to work to get the point.

NTEN’s article, How to tell a story with your data, by Stephanie Evergreen, the author of our textbook, makes a strong case that visuals should do the opposite, they should guide your brain, not challenge it. It explains how default chart styles strain cognition, like misleading colors and redundant labels, and shows how to unclog visual noise. This attention to how people actually perceive visuals adds depth.  I strongly encourage you to read it.