"Every metaphor is the tip of a submerged model. […] Use of theoretical models resembles the use of metaphors in requiring analogical transfer of a vocabulary. Metaphor and model-making reveal new relationships; both are attempts to pour new content into old bottles." (Max Black," Models and Metaphors", 1962)
"One should employ a metaphor in science only when there is good evidence that an important similarity or analogy exists between its primary and secondary subjects. One should seek to discover more about the relevant similarities or analogies, always considering the possibility that there are no important similarities or analogies, or alternatively, that there are quite distinct similarities for which distinct terminology should be introduced. One should try to discover what the 'essential' features of the similarities or analogies are, and one should try to assimilate one’s account of them to other theoretical work in the same subject area - that is, one should attempt to explicate the metaphor." (Richard Boyd, "Metaphor and Theory Change: What Is ‘Metaphor’ a Metaphor For?", 1979)
"The essence of a graphic display is that a set of numbers having both magnitudes and an order are represented by an appropriate visual metaphor - the magnitude and order of the metaphorical representation match the numbers. We can display data badly by ignoring or distorting this concept." (Howard Wainer, "How to Display Data Badly", The American Statistician Vol. 38(2), 1984)
"Despite the prevailing use of graphs as metaphors for communicating and reasoning about dependencies, the task of capturing informational dependencies by graphs is not at all trivial." (Judea Pearl, "Probabilistic Reasoning in Intelligent Systems: Network of Plausible Inference", 1988)
"Perhaps our ultimate understanding of scientific topics is measured in terms of our ability to generate metaphoric pictures of what is going on. Maybe understanding is coming up with metaphoric pictures." (Per Bak, "How Nature Works: the science of self-organized criticality", 1996)
"Make use of a simple data metaphor. Regardless of the concept you are trying to convey with an information graphic, you must make sure that the visual metaphor (i.e., a circle to represent a whole, as with a pie chart) be clear and logical. Don’t get so caught up in being clever that you make illogical comparisons or use unclear metaphors. In other words, don’t make your readers have to think too hard to get the point. They’ll appreciate you for it!" (Jennifer George-Palilonis," A Practical Guide to Graphics Reporting: Information Graphics for Print, Web & Broadcast", 2006)
"Specific numbers, visual descriptions of objects or events and identifiable locations don’t always jump out, and a graphic may not always present itself right away. A good graphics reporter will often discover graphics potential in less obvious ways. Is the explanation in a story getting bogged down and hard to follow? If so, can the information be organized differently? Perhaps in a more graphic manner? Is there information that hat can be conveyed conceptually to put a thought or idea into a more visual perspective? Visual metaphors (or 'data metaphors' in the case of mathematical or quantifiable information) often make it easier for people to digest information." (Jennifer George-Palilonis," A Practical Guide to Graphics Reporting: Information Graphics for Print, Web & Broadcast", 2006)
"All graphics by definition employ metaphors, but some are more metaphorical than others. Sometimes the metaphor escapes from its graphical cage, takes on a life of its own and provides exciting deception opportunities." (Nicholas Strange, "Smoke and Mirrors: How to bend facts and figures to your advantage", 2007)
"[…] a graph is nothing but a visual metaphor. To be truthful, it must correspond closely to the phenomena it depicts: longer bars or bigger pie slices must correspond to more, a rising line must correspond to an increasing amount. If a graphical depiction of data does not faithfully follow this principle, it is almost sure to be misleading. But the metaphoric attachment of a graphic goes farther than this. The character of the depiction ism a necessary and sufficient condition for the character of the data. When the data change, so too must their depiction; but when the depiction changes very little, we assume that the data, likewise, are relatively unchanging. If this convention is not followed, we are usually misled." (Howard Wainer, "Graphic Discovery: A trout in the milk and other visuals" 2nd, 2008)
"All sorts of metaphorical interpretations are culturally ingrained. An astute designer will think about these possible interpretations and work with them, rather than against them." (Noah Iliinsky & Julie Steel, "Designing Data Visualizations", 2011)
"Visual metaphors are about integrating a certain visual quality in your work that somehow conveys that extra bit of connection between the data, the design, and the topic. It goes beyond just the choice of visual variable, though this will have a strong influence. Deploying the best visual metaphor is something that really requires a strong design instinct and a certain amount of experience." (Andy Kirk, "Data Visualization: A successful design process", 2012)
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