Graphing in depth: perspectives on the use of three-dimensional graphs to represent lower-dimensional data

Abstract

Embellishing simple graphs by adding perspective, 'the 3D look, has become increasingly commonplace with the ready availability of graphics software. However, the effect of adding such decorative depth on the comprehension and recall of the graph's message has received little attention. The present study evaluated performance on such common graphical formats as line graphs, bar charts and pie charts constructed with and without the 3D look. When subjects were asked to make relative magnitude estimations, only the 3D line graphs resulted in reliable performance decrements. Likewise, information presented in 3D line graphs was remembered less accurately than information presented in 2D line graphs. For the estimation of global trends, both 3D line graphs and bar charts were used more quickly than 2D formats, but this speed was obtained at the expense of accuracy. For a trend classification task involving more focused processing, 3D line graphs and bar charts were associated with an overall performance decrement when compared with their 2D counterparts. Finally, the use of 3D designs, in addition to modifying performance, may influence the attitudes formed by subjects toward the information presented in the graphs.