Guidelines Are Not Rules: Characterizing Terminologies around Visualization Design Guidelines

[2608.27842] Guidelines Are Not Rules: Characterizing Terminologies around Visualization Design Guidelines Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Computer Science > Human-Computer Interaction arXiv:2608.27842 (cs) [Submitted on 28 Aug 2026 ( v1 ), last revised 23 Sep 2026 (this version, v2)] Title: Guidelines Are Not Rules: Characterizing Terminologies around Visualization Design Guidelines Authors: Anna L. Chinni , Md Dilshadur Rahman , Bon Adriel Aseniero , Petra Isenberg , Kushin Mukherjee , Ghulam Jilani Quadri , Paul Rosen , Karen B. Schloss , Daniel Weiskopf View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: A common expectation in visualization research is that outcomes recommend how researchers and practitioners take action or make design decisions. We often express these as "guidelines." Yet, the term "guideline" is both ambiguous and loosely defined, and what one researcher considers a guideline may be too broad, too loose, or too strict for another. We take a closer look at a broader set of terms that can express desirable results around visualization research, and untangle how these words are understood in the community in relation to other similar terms. We base our work on an exploratory study with experts, followed by a crowdsourcing study with a separate mapping phase (n=30) and rating phase (n=42) targeting input from the broader visualization community, and an analysis of the use of terminology in 3,877 IEEE VIS papers published from 1990 to 2024. Based on our findings, we call for more nuanced, precise discussions of research outcomes and their communication to the broader community, including practitioners and students. Comments: Accepted at BELIV @ IEEE VIS 2026 Subjects: Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC) Cite as: arXiv:2608.27842 [cs.HC] (or arXiv:2608.27842v2 [cs.HC] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.27842 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Md Dilshadur Rahman [ view email ] [v1] Fri, 28 Aug 2026 02:21:07 UTC (60,634 KB) [v2] Wed, 23 Sep 2026 02:08:52 UTC (34,856 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Additional Features Audio Summary Current browse context: cs.HC < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-08 Change to browse by: cs References & Citations SciX Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab) Major funding support from (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)

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