I'd like to start an association called Scientists Against Green On a White Background. We'd have semiannual SAGOWB (pronounced Sag-o-wab) meetings at AAS each year. We'd apply for NASA and NSF funding to go around to various departments and teach people not to plot their data as green on a white background. We'd talk about how when you use green on a white background in the figures in your paper, the data become invisible when printed on a black-and-white printer.
It would be a heck of a movement. No more would the colloquium speaker have to say, "And as you can see from this figu--uh, oh. Well, it doesn't really show up, but if you could see it, my data clearly show that..."
To demonstrate the problem, look at the following figure and squint your eyes slightly to simulate a typical computer projector. As another test, click on it and print it out on a B&W printer. Hilarity will ensue!
It would be a heck of a movement. No more would the colloquium speaker have to say, "And as you can see from this figu--uh, oh. Well, it doesn't really show up, but if you could see it, my data clearly show that..."
To demonstrate the problem, look at the following figure and squint your eyes slightly to simulate a typical computer projector. As another test, click on it and print it out on a B&W printer. Hilarity will ensue!
Comments
Sorry Quinn, dark blue text on a black background will not be allowed by our bylaws.
Marie: Yes, the green text kindly asks you not to be a part of the problem. You don't have to have poor eyesight to be forced to read it. That's the point!
I think I'll open up SAGOWB to be a general organization of people against poor data presentation. Blue on a black background, red on a blue background, blinking GIFs on webpages, thin plot axes, distacting slide transitions, Comic Sans font, etc.
If SAGOWB ever hires a lobbyist, he/she could pester Apple to make Keynote forbid users from ever choosing terrible color combinations. Draconian enforcement of tasteful design! ...then again, if Apple really believed in tasteful design, they'd never've shipped the transparent menus in Leopard. What the heck is up with that?!?
The master of awesome talks is Mate Adamkovics. His talk was full of so much Keynote goodness and plots so spiffy you'd never believe IDL made them, that Fitz and I independently cornered him during the coffee break afterwards to quiz him on how he'd done it. Oh, and his science results were pretty nifty too. :-)