Domain-Specific Rules Override Aesthetic Graph Drawing Criteria: An Exploration of User-Generated Diagrams

This paper investigates the impact of domain-specific rules on classical aesthetic graph drawing criteria. In the field of graph drawing, several aesthetic criteria are understood to improve the comprehensibility of graphs. Domain experts consider the technical implementation in the real world resulting in domain-specific rules for graph drawing, and some of these rules contradict general aesthetic criteria. Experts and novices drew graphs from scratch in two controlled experiments. In the first experiment, the participants modeled a fictional social scenario with graphs. In the second experiment, the diagrams represented digital twins of energy systems. The experiment analysis shows that some classical criteria like reducing crossings are less relevant for domain experts while others, like minimizing bends, are still important.