small multiple

A small multiple is a data visualization design pattern that displays the same type of chart or graph multiple times, each showing a different subset or segment of the data, arranged in a grid or sequence for direct visual comparison. The technique leverages the human visual system's ability to detect differences across similar visual encodings, designed to reveal patterns, trends, or anomalies that would be obscured in a single overloaded chart. It persists through the structural repetition of visual encoding with varying data, where the consistency of form isolates difference to content. [formal: small multiple | substrate: mind | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.04]