Resources

To get started, you can either explore this website or dive into the full paper for step-by-step instructions and a detailed breakdown of each question. The preprint of the paper is available on arXiv, and you’ll also find supplementary material on the IEEE Digital Library.

If you prefer something printable, there are two versions of the CDS paper you can download and print. Plus, if you want the official published version, it’ll be out in the January 2026 issue of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics — available on the IEEE website.

Please cite our paper if you use this tool: Jonathan C. Roberts, Hanan Alnjar, Aron E Owen and Panagiotis D. Ritsos. "Critical Design Strategy: a Method for Heuristically Evaluating Visualisation Designs". Accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), 2026. DOI:

Look Further: Understanding Critical Thinking and Visual Critique

Critical thinking is at the heart of both writing and design. When writing critical essays, for example, you’re encouraged to break a text into parts and explore how the author persuades their audience — analysing strategies like trustworthiness, emotional appeal, and logic.

Similarly, in design, especially visual design, we look at a piece by breaking down its visual elements into categories, assessing each part to form a bigger judgment of the overall design.

These ideas go back to classical rhetoric. Cicero, building on Aristotle, described five key parts of rhetoric:

Invention (coming up with ideas)
Arrangement (organizing them)
Style (the way they’re expressed)
Memory (remembering key points)
Delivery (presenting effectively)

Even though these were originally meant for speeches, they also apply to writing and design. They relate to Aristotle’s three modes of persuasion:

Ethos (credibility)
Pathos (emotion)
Logos (logic)

Critical thinking itself requires skills like honesty, curiosity, open-mindedness, and persistence. For example, Facione, a critical thinking expert, describes the ideal thinker as someone who is habitually inquisitive, honest about their biases, and willing to reconsider their judgments.

In education, there are many frameworks to help people think critically. For writers, tools like SOAPSTone encourage considering who is speaking, to whom, and why. Reflective models such as Borton’s “What? So what? Now what?” or Kolb’s experiential learning help learners think deeply and in an organized way.

But in design and visualization, critical thinking should happen throughout the process — not just at the end. Reflecting on past work, current progress, and future possibilities helps improve the design as it develops.

Visual Critique and Visualization

Design reflection is key to building better interfaces and visualizations. Evaluation can be done:

Automatically (using algorithms)
Empirically (user testing)
Formally (measuring usability)
Informally (expert review and experience)

Each method has strengths and challenges. Automated tools are fast but may miss context; user testing is valuable but time-consuming; expert reviews need skilled evaluators.

The CDS (Critical Design Sheet) method offers a structured, easy-to-use approach, especially for learners and designers during the design process. It’s an informal heuristic method where you evaluate designs against set criteria to guide improvements.

Critical inspection — thoughtfully analyzing visualization choices — can deepen our understanding and make visualizations more useful. While other methods like the FdS technique, sketching, or Munzner’s Nested Model help designers develop ideas, critical thinking encourages us to explore alternative perspectives and avoid quick judgments.

If we don’t critically assess what we create, we risk missing opportunities to make better, more effective designs.

Critical Design Strategy (CDS)

Resources

Look Further: Understanding Critical Thinking and Visual Critique

Visual Critique and Visualization

Further Reading