Graphical Information "Ducks" in Web Design

It is standard web design practice today to make the navigational buttons  bloated and reditions of 3-dimensional graphics with tricky light effects and fancy drop-shadows .Trends have made it so  a website is not cool, unless it is chock full of ajax popups and javascript transitions or flash movies. Websites have become interactive  art statements that are more reliant on snappy gaphics than on the information the site is advertising.  The  need for ornate interface and graphical complexity  creeps over into the world informational design and blurs the line between information and decoration. This is compounded as we start  to become overly reliant on the internet to organize our lives, archive our history and personal information, and handle our communication to everyone around us. We get the majority of our information on 2 dimensional surfaces, like computer screens and mini-mobile screens.

To compensate, data decoration and interactive displays have superseded the intelligence of clarity and simplicity.  Flash Charts and Javascript Graphs have emerged as prominent tools to display statistics and large amounts of information. Interactive screens and cool effects become token when analyzing data or obtaining information. These look great, are fun to play with, and generally express a sense of contempt for the intelligence of the viewing audience. Many times, designers are trying to display irrelevant or boring data by adding decorative effects and colors and subtle backdrops and shadows . Consequently, the Data-Container becomes more important than the data itself.

Edward R. Tufte labels this process of data decoration as 'chartjunk' in his book "Envisioning Information", 1990.  He uses a description of the paradox of contemporary/'modern' architecture as an analogy that demonstrates how chartjunk  distorts information. When modern architects tried to veer away  from and  overcome the overly ornate styles of the earlier architectural style , "they unconsciously designed buildings were ornament." (33)  Architects tried to use space and articulation over symbolism and ornament but in turn ended up constructing a decoration. The effect of constructing the decoration they were trying to avoid in the first place was called the 'duck' of modern architecture. 

The 'duck' has exceedly become pervasive in the realm of web design.The complexity of information cannot always be expressed in a fancy Flash chart or encapsulated in an interactive graphic. Fancy decorations and graph effects distort data and diminish credibility.

In favor of the web audience, many times the 'consumers of information' can decipher the information on the web better than the actual designer of the information. They absorb, digest and move on to the next set of information  because they have to. The modern consumer has no time to ponder. So they put up with it and are spoon fed. However, the simple-mindedness of presentation does not indicate simplicity or clarity. It merely demonstrates the distrust that the designers have for the audience, almost patronizing.

Not to overlook the fact that the display of information can be represented in a graphical interface if it is designed appropriately to the set of data and message it conveys. A 3 dimensional perspective can offer ways that cannot normally be displayed in a flat surface. It just has to be organized and be relevant to the information.

Decidedly, even complex data sets, graphs and tables can be organized in a way that is favorable to the amount of information that they entail, without getting flashy. Large amounts of data can be readable if placed in the right order and context. Additional data can be added to a large  as relevant  side sets of information. 

Trying to decide between an flashy graph or not takes a moment to analyze the data and the message being conveyed through your information. Airing on the side of more traditional displays of complex data sets can be beneficial if the message and information are simple and clear. Stem-and-Leaf tables can give the viewing audience a logical perspective of your information where a bar chart cannot. The  data may require getting innovative and investing time and money to organize the information to offer the 'consumer' the most benefit.  Don't be afraid of complexity but keep it clear and concise.