Charts, graphs, and other visual representations of statistical data are often used to help people communicate and make decisions. However, when creating these graphics, many designers use rules of thumb, guidelines, and individual opinions that are often not well-grounded in experimental evidence. Further, studies that do assess the design of graphics tend to focus on a relatively narrow set of uses and quality measures. These risks can lead designers to design graphics that harm rather than help communication and decision-making. This project's goal is to develop a more evidence-based and holistic approach to studying the quality of graphics and creating guidelines for designing effective graphics. This will include developing a wider range of measures and use cases to consider when studying how people use graphics, then conducting experiments using these measures and developing guidelines for effective design based on the results. These guidelines and experimental methods will then be made available to scientists who create graphics when talking about their work with the public. The research team will also integrate the work with math and statistics education courses, as well as outreach activities with middle and high school math teachers, in order to provide additional data for the research itself while enhancing those educational activities. Together, the project will improve visual communication of data by developing design guidelines supported by empirical studies th