designing-clear-data-displayslisted

# Designing Clear Data Displays House style for data displays. Three goals: figures a reader can use without decoding, ink spent on data rather than decoration, and effects shown at their true size. This SKILL.md is the entry point; expansions, examples, and the review protocol live in sidecar files loaded on demand. Scope, stated once: a repo's UX rules and document schemas define **what** a display must contain. This skill defines **how** the ink goes. Never drop a required element to save ink. Before the eight: could a table or a sentence carry these numbers? Under about twenty, a table usually does (VDQI p. 56). **Philosophy**: *Show the data. Spend ink on nothing else, within reason.* ## When to Use - Drawing any data display: chart, figure, map, diagram, table, sparkline, or a page layout that carries data - Reviewing a data display (the code reviewer loads `REVIEWING.md`) - Writing the code that places marks and labels (apply the rule 4 test before the first render) - Adopting this skill in a downstream repo (`ADOPTION.md`, once) ## The Kernel Eight rules. The ambient copy lives in CLAUDE.md (see `ADOPTION.md`); `RULES.md` expands each one with its source and its test. 1. Show the data; erase ink that carries none, within reason. 2. Label the data where it lives; a key the eye must decode fails. 3. Make every distinction as subtle as it can be and still be seen. 4. Two marks too close make a third; move one, do not shrink both. 5. Show the effect at its true si