Technical Articles and Reports by David A. Heiser
David A. Heiser writes a very comprehensive essay titled Errors, Faults, and Fixes for Statistical Functions and Routines in Excel.
Concerning charts in Excel 2007, David writes "Building charts has completely changed, and their appearances also completely different. There is an increased ability to put in chartjunk’, lighting effects, shading, 3D renderings, flashy, distracting figures, silly variations, insertion of icons, visual distractions, etc. This is what the business world wants, the ability to insert effects to obscure, bias or just to add variety to frequent presentations."
Interesting. Something that I deal with all the time at work is the need to use 3D renderings and other worthless visual effects for presentations. When I object most people look at me like I've got two heads. Am I just wrong? Thoughts?
People have been brainwashed into thinking that the use of false 3D effects and related chartjunk is vital to making a good chart.
I had one client that contracted me to automate a set of charts for a large monthly report. The original charts were 3D with lots of garbage elements. I converted everything to 3D, adjusted the colors, and made 95% of the automation happen through worksheet formulas and helper series in the charts. 90% of the way through the project, one VP (of about 5 I was stuck dealing with) asked me “How much to change it all back?” I told him I wouldn’t, and I was sent packing.