68 Kellogg Insight Most viewers do not expect a line on a graph to behave that way. Yet Franconeri’s research suggests that novel formats like this can be highly effective at grabbing viewers’ attention, producing what educa - tion researchers call a “desirable difficulty” that engages viewers with a puzzle to be solved. And with a clear explanation, most people can understand the data quite well under these novel formats. But this is where those test drives become especially critical: wherever experience suggests that people get tripped up, you would want to consider adding clear annotations, as well as the option to view more traditional visual - izations of the data in specific spots. 9. Sometimes visualization isn’t the answer. Visualization is a wonderful tool, but it is not the only one at your disposal. Our visual system is not necessarily equipped to make sense of data with more than two or three dimensions, Franconeri explains. So when you get into more complex models with many factors and drivers, you may have to rely on equations or algorithms to communicate your data. (And sometimes there is a fine line between successfully delivering on an ambitious infographic and overreaching. Recall that infographic about the yield curve published by The New York Times . “Even very sharp readers struggle to hang on when understanding patterns that are this intricate,” says Franconeri. “This was a really bold attempt.”) Another time to look beyond visualization is when the data are too abstract. Instead of trying to visualize the idea that “customers in Demographic Group X of Age Y and Income Z are not interested in Based on insights from Steve Franconeri