What to Consider When Creating a Data Visualization Style Guide

Style guides take many shapes and sizes, but here is a generic checklist you can use as a starting point for your own guide. Most guides start small with only a handful of resources and grow over time with the needs of the organization.

  • Introduction
  • Principles
    • Explore vs Explain
    • Accessible
    • Equitable
    • Brand voice
  • Foundation
    • Color
      • Categorical
      • Sequential
      • Diverging
      • Other
      • Color alternatives
        • Shape
        • Patterns and textures
    • Typography
      • Size and dimensions
    • Responsiveness
    • Medium
      • Print
      • Web
        • Static vs interactive
        • Mouse, touch, and keyboard
    • VR / AR
  • Content
    • Voice and tone
    • Grammar and mechanics
    • Language and inclusivity
  • Visualization Parts
    • Title
    • Axis
      • X (horizontal)
      • Y (vertical)
    • Legend
      • Color
      • Size
      • Shape
    • Marks
      • Line
      • Point
      • Shape
    • Annotation
    • Labels
    • Footer
      • Data sources
      • Notes
  • Visualizations
    • Line chart
    • Bar chart
    • Donut chart
    • Scatterplot
    • Histogram
    • Etc.