Label in place

Claim: each node and link is labelled where it sits; a legend is used only when direct labels do not fit.

• Grade: supported with caveat; for direct labels, mainly convention.
• Evidence: review, strands 2 and 5.
• Check: figure-judgment (judgment): is any part named only through a legend that labels could replace?
• Reader styles: none changes it.

What it asks

• Write the label on the node, and the label of a link beside it, near its middle.
• When a legend is needed, put it close to the data, in the order the data appears.

Why

In bar and line graphs, a legend placed compatibly with the data shortened the time to understand a graph and to recall it (Huestegge 2011). Style guides ask for direct labels and no legend when possible (Urban 2025; Datawrapper 2022, example only).

Limits

• Huestegge 2011 tested where a legend sits, not direct labels against a legend.
• No study of labels in node-link diagrams was found.