DATA VISUALIZATION

& INFOGRAPHICS

WHAT IS DATA
VISUALIZATION?
A visual representation of data that communicates information

WHAT IS DATA
VISUALIZATION?
Can be static or dynamic
Static:

WHAT IS DATA
VISUALIZATION?
Can be static or dynamic
Dynamic:
http://hint.fm/wind/
http://map.norsecorp.com/

WHAT ARE
INFOGRAPHICS?
Infographics are a visual representation of data that display
information to tell a story or make connections within the data.
Typically static

WHATS THE
DIFFERENCE?
Data Visualization

Infographics

Static or dynamic

Static

Delivers graphics, require interpretation

Delivers big picture concepts from data

Raw data > Aesthetics

Aesthetics > Raw data

Maximize data-ink ratio

Does not maximize data-ink ratio

DATA CODES
Different dimensions can be used to code different attributes of data
Example: height, width, area, length, color, shapes

Data codes should be visual elements that can be distinguished quickly

and easily
Preattentive processes tend to pick up hue, objects, orientation, form, intensity, motion,
etc. (Healey, 1996)

Preattentive Attributes

Useful codes for

quantitative data
precisely:
Length
Position

DATA CODES: COLOR

Color has special considerations
Color deficiency (~8% men, ~0.5% women)
Use unique hue or high saturation to capture attention quickly
Use hues to code categorical/qualitative variables
Use saturation level to represent different levels of a variable for relative judgments

DATA CODES: COLOR

Use unique hue or high saturation to capture attention quickly

DATA CODES: COLOR

Use hues to code categorical/qualitative variables
Limit to 7 hues

DATA CODES: COLOR

Too manyLimit to 7 hues

DATA CODES: COLOR

Use saturation level to represent different levels of a variable for
relative judgments
http://colorbrewer2.org/

MAXIMIZE DATA,
MINIMIZE INK
Provide as much information as possible in a simple and
understandable manner while minimizing ink
Data-ink ratio (Tufte, 2001)

bad

MAXIMIZE DATA,
MINIMIZE INK

MINIMIZE MENTAL
OPERATIONS
Minimize searching, encoding, and comparing data
More mental operations lead to the slower interpretation and chances for
interpretation errors

Higher data-ink ratio = faster interpretation & greater accuracy

(Gillan & Richman, 1994)
Crucial if you have dynamic data visualization
If info is changing, people need to be able to interpret the data before it changes (Healey, 1996)

MINIMIZE MENTAL
OPERATIONS
Cluttered graphs slow visual search
Extra information & visuals (background images, 3D)

MINIMIZE MENTAL
OPERATIONS
Maintain consistency between separate graphs

HOW SHOULD YOU

VISUALIZE DATA?
Depends on the question you want to answer
Example:
Multi-line graph is useful to display values of data across time

HOW SHOULD YOU

VISUALIZE DATA?
How much funding total in 2000?
Area chart may be more useful for that purpose.

HOW SHOULD YOU

VISUALIZE DATA?
Do you want to be able to compare proportions?
Pie chart may not be the answer (Stevens, 1957; 1975; Hollands & Dyre, 2000)
Use a method that displays proportions on a designated dimension/axis (e.g., bar
chart)

HOW SHOULD YOU

VISUALIZE DATA?
Do you want to display user behavior data?
Example: How many times do users click a button? Use a bar graph
Example: Where do uses click most often? You might want to use a heat map

LARGE DATA SETS

Typically need to be able to filter data
Allows you to see complex interactions between different variables

Data mining searching for patterns in the data

Basically a form of analytics

Example of large data visualization:

http://www.csc.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/tweet_viz/tweet_app/

LARGE DATA SETS

May need something other than excel to visualize
Excel maxes out at 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns
Gets bogged down by functions

Tableau may be better

Handles more data and allows you to interaction with data dynamically in real time
Ability to drill down into specific cases if desired

UX REPORTING
Once you collect data and analyze its important to get your insights
about design recommendations to the team before redesign
How will you display your data?

UX REPORTING
Show video clips of users encountering UX issues
Organize large sets of qualitative data using affinity diagrams

UX REPORTING
Data visualization can change depending on your audience
Executive might want high level reports (e.g., infograph)
Team may want specifics

ANALYTICS
Assess the data that we have to identify insights that help drive
decision making
Insights come from identifying patterns in data
Example: Dig into the data to inform design decisions

APPLIED QUESTION
What best practices or data visualization principles would you apply
to display data from multiple subjective outcome variables in which
you assessed the users responses on a scale from 1 (Extremely low) to
7 (Extremely high)?
Indicate the purpose of your visualization, describe how you would minimize mental
operators of your audience, describe how you would handle multiple graphs, and
justify your choice of data codes in your data visualization.
Example questions:
How do you rate your fatigue while using keyboard A? Keyboard B?
Rate the readability of keyboard keys for keyboard A? Keyboard B?

USEFUL LINKS &

SOURCES
Sources:
http://www.tableau.com/sites/default/files/media/whitepaper_visual-analysis-guidebook.pdf
http://www.fusioncharts.com/whitepapers/downloads/Principles-of-Data-Visualization.pdf
https://research.google.com/bigpicture/
http://vis.stanford.edu/
http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view_group.php?id=143
http://rpsychologist.com/d3/cohend/

Visualization examples + data:

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/

Tools for data visualization:

http://www.creativebloq.com/design-tools/data-visualization-712402
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/08/data-visualization-modern-approaches/

REFERENCES
Few, S. (2006).Information dashboard design. O'Reilly.
Healey, C. G. (1996). Effective visualization of large multidimensional datasets
(Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://www.csc.ncsu.edu/faculty/
healey/download/phd.pdf
Tufte, E. R., & Graves-Morris, P. R. (1983).The visual display of quantitative
information(Vol. 2, No. 9). Cheshire, CT: Graphics press.
Wickens, C. D. (1992).Engineering psychology and human performance.
HarperCollins Publishers.