  When people browse online news, small thumbnail images accompanying links to
articles attract their attention and help them to decide which articles to
read. As an increasing proportion of online news can be construed as data
journalism, we have witnessed a corresponding increase in the incorporation of
visualization in article thumbnails. However, there is little research to
support alternative design choices for visualization thumbnails, which include
resizing, cropping, simplifying, and embellishing charts appearing within the
body of the associated article. We therefore sought to better understand these
design choices and determine what makes a visualization thumbnail inviting and
interpretable. This paper presents our findings from a survey of visualization
thumbnails collected online and from conversations with data journalists and
news graphics designers. Our study reveals that there exists an uncharted
design space, one that is in need of further empirical study. Our work can thus
be seen as a first step toward providing structured guidance on how to design
thumbnails for data stories.
