Effective information visualisation: a study of graph drawing aesthetics and algorithms

Information visualisation systems which generate diagrams representing discrete relational information must consider potential users if they are to be effective. Many algorithms which render an abstract graph structure as a diagram are valued for their conformance to aesthetic criteria (e.g. reducing the number of edge crossings, maximising symmetry), or for computational efficiency. They are not usually judged on their ability to produce diagrams that maximise human performance. This paper presents the results of experiments investigating the relative worth (from an HCI point of view) of graph drawing aesthetics and algorithms using a single graph. The results indicate that while some individual aesthetics affect human performance, it is difficult to say that one algorithm is ‘better’ than another from a relational understanding point of view. Designers of automatic layout algorithms, and the systems which embody such algorithms, can benefit from this study and this human-centred approach, by adapting their methods to focus on user concerns, rather than computational ones.