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InfoViz

Diving into global Information Design: Cosmology in the large

There might be something in universal InfoDesign as well.

“​Classification is an intellectual act, performed as often in the name of theology as in the name of science. The classifications proposed here are an attempt to impose useful differences onto a field of infinite examples. In that sense, it is analogous to classification schemes in the biological sciences. In his explanation of contemporary evolution theory, David Quammen describes how the biologists Robert Whittaker and Lynn Margulis recognized the limits of imposing order on the phenomenon we study.”

Paul Kahn a.k.a. /paulkahn | @pauldavidkahn ~ Nightingale

Journey Maps: Not the end of the story

Have we found another silver bullet for UCD? And remember, the map is not the terrain.

“Journey maps have been around for the better part of a decade – some would argue longer – but it’s really only in the last three or four years that they’ve come into more common use, and more strategists are advocating their use as a framework for improving the customer experience. Without getting into the specifics of what a journey map is or isn’t in this column – there’s no shortage of material on the subject – suffice it to say that many in our field, including me, strongly believe in the potential of journey mapping for helping companies to achieve human-centric business transformations.”

(Ronnie Battista ~ UXmatters)

Taxonomic considerations for node-and-link visualizations (.pdf)

The node and the link, the building blocks of connectivity.

“Data visualization models that are intended to depict considerable sets of interrelated data (including systems designed to process and render big data, particularly those that must reveal unexpected correlations) and data- supported massive-communication toolsets (such as social-network media systems) increasingly rely on presentations that depict relationships through node-and-link diagrams. The challenge of combining these kinds of quantitative and qualitative datasets can be well met with node-and-link diagramming — provided an articulate and consistent modelling method is applied to the task. This paper is a primer on what node-and-link diagrams are, and what kinds naming categories may be derived and assigned in order to make node-and-link diagrams articulate and consistent.”

(William M. Bevington ~ Parsons Journal of Information Mapping Spring 2015)

The next era of designers will use data as their medium

We used to call it Information Visualization of InfoGraphics. What’s in a name.

“The software industry today is in need of a new kind of designer: one proficient in the meaning, form, movement, and transformation of data. I believe this Data Designer will turn out to be the most important new creative role of the next five years.”

(Mark Rolston ~ Wired)

Up and down the ladder of abstraction: A systematic approach to interactive visualization

Abstraction, the core competency for thinking.

“This interactive essay presents the ladder of abstraction, a technique for thinking explicitly about these levels, so a designer can move among them consciously and confidently. I believe that an essential skill of the modern system designer will be using the interactive medium to move fluidly around the ladder of abstraction.”

(Bret Victor a.k.a. @worrydream)

Provide meaning with motion: Why motion design is now a required skill for designers

Another step to use cinematography features into digital design for understanding.”

“Carefully choreographed motion design can effectively guide the user’s attention and focus through multiple steps of a process or procedure; avoid confusion when layouts change or elements are rearranged; and improve the overall beauty of the experience.”

(Paul Stamatiou a.k.a. @Stammy)

The language of dynamic and interactive graphics

A way to make meaning out of big data, content and information.

“This blog post explores if and how the framework for the analysis of static graphics offered by Yuri Engelhardt in his PhD thesis, The language of graphics: A framework for the analysis of syntax and meaning in maps, charts and diagrams (2002), might be usefully extended to become applicable to dynamic and interactive graphics as well. This brief exploration will center on a discussion of one example of a dynamic graphic: Gapminder World.”

(Lucas Reehorst ~ Masters of Media)

Visualizing Data: Seeing is Believing

How perception of information drives our concepts and the way we think, understand and come up with ideas.

“As humans, our ability to observe and analyse the contents of the world around us is both unique and astonishing, but so too is our capacity to form verbal and visual concepts. These seem to be the principal factors which have worked to our adaptive advantage in competition with other animal species. We are, in one respect at least, superior to other animals because we have developed a greater variety of systems of communication and expression, and one of these is art.”

(Richard Ingram)

The Diagram of Information Visualization

Even business graphics is on the horizon. And that’s not clipart in PPTs.

“In the last ten years, the area of Information Visualization has witnessed an exponential increase in its popularity. Diagrammatic reasoning and visual epistemology are becoming readily accepted methods of research in many academic domains. Concurrently, information graphics and Infovis have grabbed the attention of a larger mainstream audience.”

(Parsons Journal for Information Mapping Volume IV, Issue 4)

How Visuals Can Help Content Strategists Find Their Voice

Visual thinking and communication, the way to tackle many wicked design problems.

“It’s not just clients who are compelled by visuals. Visuals grab everyone’s attention in meaningful, memorable ways, whether we’re trying to influence project managers or CMOs. Content strategists use words to argue our points, yet our colleagues (UX and Creative, and even Project Management) use visuals. We should, too. Not sure how to turn data into information?

(Tosca Fasso a.k.a. @toscafasso ~ SUBTXT)

Expressing UX Concepts Visually

One image, a thousand words. One word, a piece of the jigsaw puzzle.

“It is all too easy to create UX deliverables that are not visually pleasing. But UX expertise encompasses Web design, graphic design, and branding, so why should we be satisfied with mediocre design in our deliverables? When we present our personas, sitemaps, user flows, wireframes, and other design deliverables to our clients and stakeholders, it is our duty and responsibility to create well-designed deliverables.”

(Barnabas Nagy ~ UXmatters)

Visual Storytelling: New Language for the Information Age

Visuals are great, but what about the language it uses, spoken.

“(…) the most compelling work by a new generation of designers, illustrators, graphic editors, and data journalists tackling the grand sensemaking challenge of our time by pushing forward the evolving visual vocabulary of storytelling.”

(Maria Popova a.k.a. @brainpicker ~ Brain Pickings)
courtesy of nicoooooooon

The Information Sage

“Edward Tufte occupies a revered and solitary place in the world of graphic design. Over the last three decades, he has become a kind of oracle in the growing field of data visualization – the practice of taking the sprawling, messy universe of information that makes up the quantitative backbone of everyday life and turning it into an understandable story. His four books on the subject have sold almost two million copies, and in his crusade against euphemism and gloss, he casts a shadow over the world of graphs and charts similar to the specter of George Orwell over essay and argument.” (Joshua Yaffa ~ Washington Monthly) ~ courtesy of jasonkottke