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Brief 131

Data Visualization Audit

Every chart, graph, and metric put to the truth test — right form, honest axes, labeled and legible, accessible beyond color, and numbers that match their source.

DATAVIZ.md4 phases8 lenses~3.3k chars

Free & open · no signup · read-only — it ends by asking · nothing leaves your machine

What it does

You are working inside this repo. Mission: audit every chart, graph, gauge, and headline metric the product renders — and find the ones that pick the wrong form, distort the scale, or leave the reader unable to tell what they are looking at.

Read-only pass. Render the charts in the running app or read the chart configs, data-shaping code, and components; your only write is the report file.

What it looks for

8 lenses it looks through

Phase 2 sweeps the codebase through every one of these, citing file and line for each finding.

1

Right form for the question

does the chart type fit the comparison (trend, part-to-whole, distribution, correlation); the pie with twelve slices

2

Honest scale

truncated or dual y-axes, inconsistent bins, log without saying so; the axis that turns a wiggle into a cliff

3

Encodes the truth

the drawn value matches the source data; rounding, unit, and aggregation that quietly mislead

4

Legibility

titles, axis labels, units, and legends present; can a stranger read it with no caption

5

Color & accessibility

categorical hues distinguishable and colorblind-safe, sequential ramps actually ordered, meaning never by color alone

6

Data-ink & clutter

gridlines, 3D, shadows, and decoration competing with the data; the ink spent on chrome

7

Empty, loading & outliers

no-data, still-loading, single-point, and extreme-value states; the chart that breaks on zero rows

8

Interaction & responsive

tooltips, hover, and legend toggles that work by keyboard and touch; the chart clipped on a phone

The deliverable

What lands in your repo

One structured report at the repo root — or in reports/, if you keep one — the same shape every time, ready for a teammate — or the optional Studio — to act on.

DATAVIZ.md
1
Chart inventory
chart · question it answers · form · data source
2
Findings
each: lens · chart · what the reader misreads · the fix
3
Misleading-now
the distortions to correct first, with the honest version
4
The palette & defaults
the shared chart colors, scales, and label rules this codebase should adopt
One file. Evidence-backed. It ends by asking before touching anything.
How it works

What it makes the agent do

Every Goal Prompt follows the same four steps, so results are consistent and repeatable — no matter which one you run.

1
Phase 1

Inventory the visuals

List every visualization.

2
Phase 2

Audit through 8 lenses

Cite the chart and its config or component for every finding.

3
Phase 3

Curate

Rank by decisions-at-risk.

4
Phase 4

Report

Create DATAVIZ.md at repo root.

Get started

Three ways to run this Goal Prompt

01 · COPY

Paste it in

Copy it and paste it into your agent inside the repo you want checked.

02 · INSTALL

As a slash command

Install the goal plugin once — two commands — then just type /goal:data-visualization.

1/plugin marketplace add GhostlyGawd/goal-prompts
2/plugin install goal@goal-prompts

Or install only this Goal Prompt as /goal-data-visualization:

curl -fsSL https://goal-prompts.vercel.app/install | BRIEF=131 sh
03 · AGENT

From an agent (MCP)

Let an agent fetch it mid-conversation, or pull the raw Goal Prompt by URL.

https://goal-prompts.vercel.app/raw/131.md
Transparency

The exact prompt

Nothing hidden — this is the whole Goal Prompt, verbatim. Read it in a minute, edit it, or copy it as-is.

Read the full brief (3,255 characters)
# Goal: Data Visualization Audit

You are working inside this repo. Mission: audit every chart, graph, gauge, and headline metric the product renders — and find the ones that pick the wrong form, distort the scale, or leave the reader unable to tell what they are looking at.

Read-only pass. Render the charts in the running app or read the chart configs, data-shaping code, and components; your only write is the report file.

## Phase 1 — Inventory the visuals
- List every visualization: line, bar, area, pie/donut, scatter, table-as-chart, sparkline, gauge, big-number stat, map, heatmap.
- For each, note the question it answers, the data behind it, and the library or code that draws it.
- Capture the axes, scales, color mapping, and labels each one actually ships with.

## Phase 2 — Audit through 8 lenses
Cite the chart and its config or component for every finding.
1. **Right form for the question** — does the chart type fit the comparison (trend, part-to-whole, distribution, correlation); the pie with twelve slices
2. **Honest scale** — truncated or dual y-axes, inconsistent bins, log without saying so; the axis that turns a wiggle into a cliff
3. **Encodes the truth** — the drawn value matches the source data; rounding, unit, and aggregation that quietly mislead
4. **Legibility** — titles, axis labels, units, and legends present; can a stranger read it with no caption
5. **Color & accessibility** — categorical hues distinguishable and colorblind-safe, sequential ramps actually ordered, meaning never by color alone
6. **Data-ink & clutter** — gridlines, 3D, shadows, and decoration competing with the data; the ink spent on chrome
7. **Empty, loading & outliers** — no-data, still-loading, single-point, and extreme-value states; the chart that breaks on zero rows
8. **Interaction & responsive** — tooltips, hover, and legend toggles that work by keyboard and touch; the chart clipped on a phone

## Phase 3 — Curate
- Rank by decisions-at-risk: a distorted axis on the metric people act on outranks a cluttered decorative chart.
- Separate "wrong form", "misleading", and "unreadable"; fix misleading first — it costs trust.
- For each, name the chart, the flaw, and the truer rendering.

## Phase 4 — Report
Create `DATAVIZ.md` at repo root:
1. **Chart inventory** — chart · question it answers · form · data source
2. **Findings** — each: lens · chart · what the reader misreads · the fix
3. **Misleading-now** — the distortions to correct first, with the honest version
4. **The palette & defaults** — the shared chart colors, scales, and label rules this codebase should adopt

Start the report with today's date. If `DATAVIZ.md` already exists from a previous run, read it first and lead with what changed since.

## Rules
- Every finding names the chart and the config or data behind it
- A chart that misleads is worse than no chart — correctness before beauty
- No charts or data visualizations in this repo? Say so in a one-paragraph null report and stop — a null result is a valid finding.
- If a `reports/` directory exists at the repo root, write the report there instead of the root.
- Before asking, present the top findings as a ranked list in plain words
- Report only — end by asking which charts to fix first

House rules for this Goal Prompt

  • Every finding names the chart and the config or data behind it
  • A chart that misleads is worse than no chart — correctness before beauty
  • No charts or data visualizations in this repo? Say so in a one-paragraph null report and stop — a null result is a valid finding.
  • If a reports/ directory exists at the repo root, write the report there instead of the root.
  • Before asking, present the top findings as a ranked list in plain words
  • Report only — end by asking which charts to fix first
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