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Visualizing data is an art

perthirtysix.com

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Re: Visualizing data is an art

#31

Post by patrick451 »

> It is completely reasonable to give up some precision to:

> - Reduce unnecessary cognitive load and emphasize a feeling, as in the Climate Stripes example.

> - Encode a much higher volume of data, as in the Climate Globe example.

> -Add delight and use a visual metaphor to show trends, as in the Coffee Shop example

This the most absurd claim I have ever seen regarding data visualization. Give up precision for delight? Give up precision for a feeling? This article should have been tile "How to lie with graphs". The article is advocating for how to use graphs in the service of rhetoric, not science. This is exactly why visualizing data should NOT be treated as art. The first and third bullet point are obsolutely not reasons to give up

Re: Visualizing data is an art

#32

Post by patrick451 »

haswell wrote: post #18
pabloarteel wrote: post #11

No, it's not an Art. I get that people use the word art as "difficult", "obscure" or "intangible" but... Art is about self-expression, evoking emotions, and open interpretation. Design is about problem-solving, functionality, and clear communication. Clearly DataViz is Design.

> Art is about self-expression, evoking emotions, and open interpretation Art is about these things, but is also about many other things. And art can be clear in its intentions, leaving little to interpret. What is the purpose of data visualization? Often to evoke emotions and to help someone not familiar with the data understand how to interpret it. The people who accomplish this most effectively understand that the…

Evoking emotions is the role of art, not data visualization.

Re: Visualizing data is an art

#33

Post by shriracha »

patrick451 wrote: post #31

> It is completely reasonable to give up some precision to: > - Reduce unnecessary cognitive load and emphasize a feeling, as in the Climate Stripes example. > - Encode a much higher volume of data, as in the Climate Globe example. > -Add delight and use a visual metaphor to show trends, as in the Coffee Shop example This the most absurd claim I have ever seen regarding data visualization. Give up precision for delig…

You think the Climate Stripes are an example of "lying"?

Re: Visualizing data is an art

#34

Post by shriracha »

internet101010 wrote: post #24

99% of the time it is design, 1% it is art. The goal is always to convey information in a digestible way without being misleading. An example of it being art is that video that illustrates death counts in WWII. The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics should be a required for reading for anyone working with numbers. tldr: only use color when necessary, avoid bold typefaces, keep scales consistent across…

A few thoughts there:

1. I generally agree with you on that goal, but there are a TON of ways to convey information in a digestible way without being misleading. Even if you follow good practices.

2. "Convey" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. What are you conveying? One number? Many numbers? A specific story? As much data as possible to let the viewer find a trend themselves? Are the numbers important or the general direction of the data? Picking an answer and making the visual serve that goal is an art IMO.

Re: Visualizing data is an art

#35

Post by __mharrison__ »

shriracha wrote: post #28
__mharrison__ wrote: post #26

I just wrote a book (released yesterday!), Effective Visualization, that takes almost the opposite approach. Follow well-known patterns and know your audience. That should guide you to telling a good story. It can look pretty, but making it art for the sake of art probably won't resonate with your audience. That's been my experience after I've trained and consulted with some of the biggest companies in the world. htt…

Congratulations on the book drop! So I'm not sure if you read my piece or just wanted to drop a promotion, but I think you're misrepresenting my view here. I'm not advocating for "art for the sake of art" and I certainly don't think you should not know your audience. My main point is that I don't think all of data viz is as simple as you're implying here, i.e. that a pretty chart probably won't "resonate" or that a c…

I guess I disagree with this sentiment "Beyond that, I think there is a lot of room for creativity."

My experience is that most folks creating visualizations don't need or want the capability to have freedom. They want guidelines to help them communicate well.

Re: Visualizing data is an art

#36

Post by haswell »

patrick451 wrote: post #32
haswell wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Art is about self-expression, evoking emotions, and open interpretation Art is about these things, but is also about many other things. And art can be clear in its intentions, leaving little to interpret. What is the purpose of data visualization? Often to evoke emotions and to help someone not familiar with the data understand how to interpret it. The people who accomplish this most effectively understand that the…

Evoking emotions is the role of art, not data visualization.

Data visualizations are absolutely used to evoke emotions. Many visualizations are built with the primary goal of driving behavioral change. These by definition will be playing on our hopes, fears, greed, to drive urgency, etc.

Beyond the potential emotional power of a well-chosen and executed visualization, there's also a decent bit of research about the ability to influence mood via color choice. Color choice when visualizing data can make a huge difference in its effectiveness due to this emotional effect.

Re: Visualizing data is an art

#37

Post by watersb »

On my old iPad 4, this page is essentially blank.

I try to apply principles of progressive enhancement when I want to communicate. I start with plain HTML, basic text block structure and images.

Interactive data viz can be a sublime way to tell a story with data. But if I can't explain the data with the basics, I try to rethink my approach.

I absolutely believe that data visualization, as an art, A craft, can transform the way we share essential ideas.

But I try to make sure a static hero image is up there when necessary.

Re: Visualizing data is an art

#38

Post by openrisk »

Visualization seems to have stagnated in the AI craze era. Lots of androids touching holographic screens and what not, as metaphors for the almighty "AGI" coming any day now, but cant recall a major new development in the last five years?

One area that might be "pregnant" for some new approaches is the visualization of large datasets, eg large graphs. Extracting useful (and objective) information instead of ovewhelming with the sheer number of data points. That is indeed the art of visualisation.

Re: Visualizing data is an art

#39

Post by ysofunny »

haswell wrote: post #36
patrick451 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evoking emotions is the role of art, not data visualization.

Data visualizations are absolutely used to evoke emotions. Many visualizations are built with the primary goal of driving behavioral change. These by definition will be playing on our hopes, fears, greed, to drive urgency, etc. Beyond the potential emotional power of a well-chosen and executed visualization, there's also a decent bit of research about the ability to influence mood via color choice. Color choice when…

just because we can have an emotional reaction to data visualization does not mean data visualization should be about evoking emotions

Re: Visualizing data is an art

#40

Post by ysofunny »

pabloarteel wrote: post #11

No, it's not an Art. I get that people use the word art as "difficult", "obscure" or "intangible" but... Art is about self-expression, evoking emotions, and open interpretation. Design is about problem-solving, functionality, and clear communication. Clearly DataViz is Design.

there seems to be two competing visions of what is art:

art as a the top degree in any discipline; like in "state of the art"

but there's also art as that little part of science that escapes rationality, the self-expression drive of a human and so on

> "It can be a science, an art, and a craft all at once."

suggests the article leans for the art as the top level of some discipline definition of art

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