LEGIBILITY 



A reader can decipher a chart or graph only when he can 

 understand it. For a figure to be understandable, all parts 

 of it must be legible. It is your responsibility as the author 

 to exannine the original drawings and detect flaws that could 

 reduce legibility of the printed figure. The flaws should be 

 corrected before you submit the illustrations. 



Legibility of an illustration is affected by the size and 

 proportions of the drawing, and by the quality of the work, 

 including such factors as scale, lines, letters, and symbols 

 used. 



Proportions and Size 



Although the data you wish to depict will affect the 

 proportions of your drawing, the size and format of the 

 type -page will determine the scale you use and the final 

 size of the printed illustration. Thus, you need to know the 

 publication series for which you are preparing the figures. 



This brings us to the important decision of how large 

 to make the original drawing. Many a headache has de- 

 veloped in the Editorial Office because the original drawings 

 with a manuscript were large enough to cover the top of 

 the desk when they should have been small enough to slip 

 into a folder. Such large art is not only hard to handle and 

 transport, but it is more subject to damage and poses a filing 

 problem later. Probably even more important, the lettering 

 invariably is not in proportion to the large size of the draw- 

 ing and becomes illegible in the printed figure because of 

 the great reduction necessary. Furthermore, the Govern- 

 ment Printing Office has specifically stated that it does not 

 wish to handle illustrations so large that they require 

 rolling. Situations may arise in which an author must use 

 a geodetic survey map of rather large size. These instances 

 should be kept to the minimum, with the author making 

 certain that smaller maps are not available which would 

 serve his purpose equally well. 



Since reduction tends to eliminate little imperfections, 

 the original should be larger than the printed figure made 

 from it. To determine the maximum size of the original 

 drawing intended for a full-page illustration, measure the 

 type-page of the publication, that is the area covered by 

 type exclusive of running heads and page numbers; then 

 double or triple those dimensions. Thus, for a publication 

 in which the type covers a page area of approximately 6^ 

 by 8^ inches, as in the Fishery Bulletin or Special Scientific 

 Reports, the finished drawing should be no larger than about 

 18 by 24 inches and preferably no larger than 12 by 18 inches. 



