Skip to main content

Signal-to-Noise Ratio

Define​

The ratio of relevant to irrelevant information visible in a display

This term is borrowed from scientific and engineering fields such as electronics. It is used to demonstrate the amount of useful or important information that is visible, compared to the amount of irrelevant or unimportant information, The highest possible signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio is desirable.

Designers should consider removing, hiding, or reducing the visual weight of unimportant information to increase the SNR ratio, and therefore clarity.

Resources​