One message

Claim: a figure has one message, and its title or caption states it.

• Grade: supported with caveat.
• Evidence: review, strands 2 and 5.
• Check: figure-judgment (judgment): does the caption state what the reader should take from the figure?
• Reader styles: none changes it.

What it asks

• Write the caption as a sentence that says what the figure shows, not a label of its type.
• Split a figure that carries two messages.

Why

Eye movements and descriptions of 393 visualisations led to the advice that titles and supporting text should convey the message (Borkin 2016). Practice says the same: fix the message before drawing (Rougier 2014); write a concise, active title (Urban 2025).

Limits

• No study compares a stated message with a label title on a diagram.