A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

The Periodic Table of Visualization Methods , hosted by the impressive Swiss Visual Literacy project, is the most comprehensive visualization taxonomy I have seen.

It divides visualisations into…

  • Data,
  • Information,
  • Concept,
  • Strategy,
  • Metaphor, and
  • Compound Visualizations.

Each of these is then classified as a…

  • process or
  • structure visualization,

… and further subdivided into whether they show…

  • detail,
  • overview, or
  • detail and overview,

… and whether they support

  • convergent or
  • divergent thinking.