Data has long been pervasive. Humans seem endlessly intrigued with cataloging and collecting things. We are constantly looking back to look forward. Historical data has helped us prepare for re-occurrences and understand complicated spans of time that may be seemingly unrelated. Data is becoming increasingly easier and easier to collect and it’s really starting to pile up.
Numbers by themselves can never tell a story and that’s where the fun begins. Visualizing and finding/telling interesting stories with these mountains of data has become almost as important as the data itself.
I am so impressed by both ends of the data visualization spectrum. Taking huge data sets that appear insurmountable and creating visually stunning works of art that allow a viewer to dive into. These often create lasting impressions and let viewers experience the data as a piece of art containing layers and layers of information. Equally impressive, if not more important is the ability to tell concise stories by stripping the data down to its most crystallized form. Making complex data sets accessible and approachable is a task of flawless organization and design restraint.
Here are some recent data visualization pieces that I have found intriguing. Hope you enjoy.
Random Walk. What does randomness look like?
The World of 100. What would a world with a village of 100 people look like? Think beautiful posters with simple vector graphics that related to statistical slices of the world. Gender, Literacy, Education, Food and Computers are just a few.
Roambi: An iPhone app dedicated to the display of data.
Do these representations resonate with you more than straight up text would?
Dwayne Raupp
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I’ve always said that “visual people” respond more positively to complex data displayed this way. I include myself in that label. I know it resonates more with me. But now that I think about it, is there anyone that would rather look at a spreadsheet than designed representations of data? Aren’t we all “visual people?”
I completely agree. The power of good data visualization is its approachability and simplicity. Outside of possibly some economist and mathematicians, who doesn’t benefit from understanding and relating to a piece of data quickly and unobtrusively. Especially when the messages can be as powerful as world hunger, poverty, education and other subjects of such global magnitude. The user should be spending time thinking about the subject matter and how it affects them and the global collective, not deciphering a beautiful mess.
The examples listed above and others like USA Today graphs have long capitalized on creating very symbolic representations, of often times very complicated messages hidden behind complex data sets. They are successful in my mind not because I’m a visual person and crave data porn. But because of their concise story telling through accessible design that tries to clarify rather than clutter a message. One that can, and should, be understood by a broad mass.
I believe the role of a data visualizer is to 1. Use consistent design & typographic systems to establish a base of familiarity and expectation that will carry the user through the flow of data. 2. Boil the data down to the most salient message. Don’t try to say everything with the data. One strong message is more powerful than 4 convoluted ones and 3. Find a unique way to tell the story to the audience. A pie chart may be the most conventional way the message wants to be shown. But are there alternatives that are both more captivating and understandable.
Oh and 4. Show it to me because i love this stuff.
The World of 100 gives lots of examples of how to bias the representation of the numbers one way, or the other. A simple stacked bar chart maintains the same width from top to bottom. Shapes that vary in two dimensions (e.g., the kangaroo) are often manipulated by way of the total area that represents each data point.
But if it makes the creative people more comfortable…