Placement of Labels
· Place the legends on the bars, lines,wedges of a pie, or the illustration rather than having an actual legend. This avoids double scanning involved in finding a relevant part of the key and then referring to the graphic. If a key is used,put it within the picture area of the graph. Avoid enclosing the key in a box.
· Labels should run horizontally from left to right whenever possible, except for the Y-axis label. A vertical Y-axis label saves space. Vertical text is harder to read so make it large and simple enough to read when rotated. Place axis labels outside the graph. Center the X-axis label
under the X axis. Center the Y-axis label parallel to the Y axis. Parallel labels should read from bottom to top.
· Axis labels should be placed close to the scale numbers, but not so close that they protrude into the imaginary rectangle occupied by the scale numbers.
· If there is more than one Y axis, the labels should all read in the same direction (from bottom to top). It is helpful to include the data point or line pattern in the Y-axis labels to show which data relate to which Y axis.
· Numbers along the Y axis should be horizontal and aligned on the decimal point, whether or not the decimal point is actually present.Figs. 21 and 22 compare the incorrect (Fig. 21) and correct (Fig. 22) usage of label placement.