Page:Graphic methods for presenting facts (1914).djvu/365

 few words a title for a complex chart, the result is well worth the effort and a chart should not be considered complete until such a title has been made.

Fig. 239. A Clear and Accurate Title is of Great Importance

The clipping above, taken from the front page of a very prominent newspaper, shows an absurd title. If a thing is reduced 100 per cent, it is all gone. How can drinking be reduced 2,000 per cent?

When large numbers of curves and charts are used by a corporation, it will be found advantageous to have certain standard abbreviations and symbols on the face of the chart so that information may be given in condensed form as a signal to anyone reading the charts. Fig. 240 is shown here as an excellent example of what may be done in making symbols which would be instantly understood by anyone seeing them. Though these particular symbols are not fitted for use in chart drawing, they may give a suggestion of the possibilities which exist for abbreviating into symbol form certain remarks or instructions, which it may be frequently convenient to place on the face of a chart as a guide to prevent misinterpretation by the reader. If the symbols for chart work are not too numerous, they would very soon be understood by each of the persons who regularly go over the operating charts of a company.

It may be well to point out here that very large charts are sometimes a disadvantage rather than an advantage. In preparing reports, especially those reports which are used in typewritten form for limited distribution, there is a tendency to accompany the typewritten report with charts on very large sheets of paper, bulky and inconvenient to handle. Sometimes the scales of these accompanying charts are so large that the reader is puzzled to get clearly in his mind what the whole chart is driving at. There is a possibility of making a simple chart on such a large scale that the mere size of the chart adds to its complexity by causing the reader to glance from one side of the chart to the other