A reading checklist

Thirty seconds per chart.

The questions

What are the axes and do they start at zero? What range is shown and why? Compared with what? Out of how many? What is missing? Who made it and what do they want?

Read the axis labels before the shape; the shape is designed to be read first.
Find the source data when the claim matters.

Making better ones

State the finding in the title, show the comparison, include uncertainty, and use zero baselines for bars. The same discipline that catches distortion prevents it.