What I'd like to see is comparison and motivation relative to contour line maps, which are what I would consider the conventional way to show topography. I find these plots somewhat bizarre in comparison.
Are these joy plots more accessible to novice viewers somehow? To me, contour lines provide a very clear understanding of terrain but I admit I am pretty fluent in reading them. They bunch up to show steep slopes and cliffs, but give a much clearer sense of slope direction and more subtle topography like bowls, saddles, and stream beds.
I cannot really recall how I first experienced them as a novice. I was a child looking at USGS quadrant maps of the Sierra Nevada.