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NeurIPS 2025 Statistical Plot Aesthetics Guide

1. The "NeurIPS Look": A High-Level Overview​

The prevailing aesthetic for 2025 is defined by precision, accessibility, and high contrast. The "default" academic look has shifted away from bare-bones styling toward a more graphic, publication-ready presentation.

  • Vibe: Professional, clean, and information-dense.
  • Backgrounds: There is a heavy bias toward stark white backgrounds for maximum contrast in print and PDF reading, though the "Seaborn-style" light grey background remains an accepted variant.
  • Accessibility: A strong emphasis on distinguishing data not just by color, but by texture (patterns) and shape (markers) to support black-and-white printing and colorblind readers.

2. Detailed Style Options​

Color Palettes​

  • Categorical Data:
    • Soft Pastels: Matte, low-saturation colors (salmon, sky blue, mint, lavender) are frequently used to prevent visual fatigue.
    • Muted Earth Tones: "Academic" palettes using olive, beige, slate grey, and navy.
    • High-Contrast Primaries: Used sparingly when categories must be distinct (e.g., deep orange vs. vivid purple).
    • Accessibility Mode: A growing trend involves combining color with geometric patterns (hatches, dots, stripes) to differentiate categories.
  • Sequential & Heatmaps:
    • Perceptually Uniform: "Viridis" (blue-to-yellow) and "Magma/ Plasma" (purple-to-orange) are the standard.
    • Diverging: "Coolwarm" (blue-to-red) is used for positive/negative value splits.
    • Avoid: The traditional "Jet/Rainbow" scale is almost entirely absent.

Axes & Grids​

  • Grid Style:
    • Visibility: Grid lines are almost rarely solid. Common choices include fine dashed ('--') or dotted (':') lines in light gray.
    • Placement: Grids are consistently rendered behind data elements (low Z-order).
  • Spines (Borders):
    • The "Boxed" Look: A full enclosure (black spines on all 4 sides) is very common.
    • The "Open" Look: Removing the top and right spines for a minimalist appearance.
  • Ticks:
    • Style: Ticks are generally subtle, facing inward, or removed entirely in favor of grid alignment.

Layout & Typography​

  • Typography:
    • Font Family: Exclusively Sans-Serif (resembling Helvetica, Arial, or DejaVu Sans). Serif fonts are rarely used for labels.
    • Label Rotation: X-axis labels are rotated 45 degrees only when necessary to prevent overlap; otherwise, horizontal orientation is preferred.
  • Legends:
    • Internal Placement: Floating the legend inside the plot area ( top-left or top-right) to maximize the "data-ink ratio."
    • Top Horizontal: Placing the legend in a single row above the plot title.
  • Annotations:
    • Direct Labeling: Instead of forcing readers to reference a legend, text is often placed directly next to lines or on top of bars.

3. Type-Specific Guidelines​

Bar Charts & Histograms​

  • Borders: Two distinct styles are accepted:
    • High-Definition: Using black outlines around colored bars for a "comic-book" or high-contrast look.
    • Borderless: Solid color fills with no outline (often used with light grey backgrounds).
  • Grouping: Bars are grouped tightly, with significant whitespace between categorical groups.
  • Error Bars: Consistently styled with black, flat caps.

Line Charts​

  • Markers: A critical observation: Lines almost always include geometric markers (circles, squares, diamonds) at data points, rather than just being smooth strokes.
  • Line Styles: Use dashed lines ('--') for theoretical limits, baselines, or secondary data, and solid lines for primary experimental data.
  • Uncertainty: Represented by semi-transparent shaded bands ( confidence intervals) rather than simple vertical error bars.

Tree & Pie/Donut Charts​

  • Separators: Thick white borders are standard to separate slices or treemap blocks.
  • Structure: Thick Donut charts are preferred over traditional Pie charts.
  • Emphasis: "Exploding" (detaching) a specific slice is a common technique to highlight a key statistic.

Scatter Plots​

  • Shape Coding: Use different marker shapes (e.g., circles vs. triangles) to encode a categorical dimension alongside color.
  • Fills: Markers are typically solid and fully opaque.
  • 3D Plots: Depth is emphasized by drawing "walls" with grids or using drop-lines to the "floor" of the plot.

Heatmaps​

  • Aspect Ratio: Cells are almost strictly square.
  • Annotation: Writing the exact value (in white or black text) inside the cell is highly preferred over relying solely on a color bar.
  • Borders: Cells are often borderless (smooth gradient look) or separated by very thin white lines.

Radar Charts​

  • Fills: The polygon area uses translucent fills (alpha ~0.2) to show grid lines underneath.
  • Perimeter: The outer boundary is marked by a solid, darker line.

Miscellaneous​

  • Dot Plots: Used as a modern alternative to bar charts; often styled as "lollipops" (dots connected to the axis by a thin line).

4. Common Pitfalls (What to Avoid)​

  • The "Excel Default" Look: Avoid heavy 3D effects on bars, shadow drops, or serif fonts (Times New Roman) on axes.
  • The "Rainbow" Map: Avoid the Jet/Rainbow colormap; it is considered outdated and perceptually misleading.
  • Ambiguous Lines: A line chart without markers can look ambiguous if data points are sparse; always add markers.
  • Over-reliance on Color: Failing to use patterns or shapes to distinguish groups makes the plot inaccessible to colorblind readers.
  • Cluttered Grids: Avoid solid black grid lines; they compete with the data. Always use light grey/dashed grids.