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Many efforts using areas to show magnitudes make the mistake of varying both dimensions simultaneously in response to changes in one-dimensional data.
The use of two [or three] varying dimensions to show one-dimensional data is a weak and inefficient technique.
Principal: the number of information-carrying [variable] dimensions depicted should not exceed the number of dimensions in the data.
Context is Essential for Graphical Integrity Principal – Graphics must not quote data out of context
It is the special character of numbers that they have magnitude as well as an order; numbers measure quantity. Graphics can display the quantitative size of changes as well as their direction.
Notes from The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R. Tufte
