Karen Cheng (co-authored with Marco Rolandi and Sarah Pérez-Kriz). "A Brief Guide to Designing Effective Figures for the Scientific Paper." Advanced Materials 23.38 (2011): 4343–4346.
Abstract from the publisher's article webpage:
Figures are an essential part of the scientific paper. Scientists often learn how to create figures by trial and error. A scientist, a graphic designer, and a cognitive psychologist have teamed up to write a brief guide to ease this process. This guide, aimed at researchers in scientific fields, provides an easy‐to‐follow set of instructions to design effective figures.