I would like an image to prove a point. A visual example of how dense information makes it difficult to see the point. Dense data makes it hard to navigate the information.
To do this, let's base it on the food pyramid.
On the left is a traditional representation of the food pyramid. In the center is another pyramid, a dense representation, containing more information to the point it distorts the pyramid. And on the right, is a pyramid with just a few fruits emphasised.
The idea here: Take a summary a food group, like the "Fruit Group". Where the representation in the center MAY say "Fruit Group" but the text also contains MANY fruit names. Below are a handful of fruit names...
Apple, Apricot, Avocado, Abiu, Acai, Acerola, Ackee, Arhat, American Mayapple, African Cherry Orange, Amazon grape, Araza, Alligator apple, Ambarella, African Cucumber, African Medlar, African Moringa, Agave Plant, Aizen Fruit, American Black Elderberry, American Chestnut, American Hazelnut Shrub, American Red Raspberry, Aprium, Atemoya, Atherton Raspberry, Banana, Berry, Bayberry, Blueberry, Blackberry, Boysenberry, Bearberry, Bilberry, Barberry, Buffaloberry, Black cherry, Beach plum, Black raspberry, Black apple, Blue tongue, Bolwarra, Burdekin plum, Bramble, Broadleaf Bramble, Black mulberry, Blood orange, Babaco, Bael, Barbadine, Barbados cherry, Betel nut, Bilimbi, Bitter gourd, Black sapote, Bottle gourd, Brazil nut, Breadfruit, Burmese grape, Blackcurrant, Bignay, Beechnut, Bacuri Fruit, Balsam Apple, Batuan Fruit, Blood Lime, Brazilian Guava, Brush cherry, Cantaloupe, Chokeberry, Cranberry, Cloudberry, Crowberry, Conkerberry, Calabash, Calamansi, Calamondins, Canistel, Cape Gooseberry, Capuli Cherry, Carob Fruit, Cashew Apple, Cedar Bay Cherry, Cempedak, Ceylon Gooseberry, Charichuelo Fruit, Chayote Fruit, Cherimoya Fruit, cherry Fruit, Chokecherry, Citrofortunella, Clementines, Cluster Fig, Coco Plum, Common Apple Berry, Cornelian Cherry, Cucumber, Cupuacu, Damson, Date plum, Davidson's plum, Dead Man's Fingers, Dekopon, Desert fig, Desert lime, Dodder laurel, Double Coconut, Dragon Fruit, Duku fruit, Durian, Eastern Hawthorn, Elephant apple, Emu Apple, Emu berry, Fairchild tangerine, False mastic, Feijoa, Fibrous Satinash, Finger Lime, Florida strangler fig, Forest strawberries
With all the fruit names, the text becomes small and harder to read. "Fruit Group" is hard to read. The pyramid becomes SOMEWHAT distorted, so as a whole it's not really a pyramid anymore either. But please do TRY to make all the fruit names legible, not super small text.
Finally, the image on the right shows a compromise. Where it shows "Fruit Group" and there is emphasis on just a handful of fruit names. Not dozens like shown in the middle. This too DOES NOT have to maintain the pyramid shape, but should be CLOSE to a pyramid.