CS 171: Visualization Design Principles Hanspeter Pfister - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

CS 171: Visualization Design Principles Hanspeter Pfister pfister@seas.harvard.edu

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Visualization To convey information through graphical representations of data

Due This Week • HW0, including course survey (due tonight) • Readings week 1: A. Cairo and T. Munzner

Design Critique

NYT, 2008 Print Edition

Last.fm Listening History

Harvard Business Review June 2010, HBR by Jeff Clark

Design

Design “Design must be functional and functionality must be translated into visual aesthetics, without any reliance on gimmicks that have to be explained.” F. A. Porsche

Graphical Design

Design Excellence “Clutter and confusion are not attributes of information, they are failures of design.” E. Tufte

Edward Tufte

Outline • Graphical Integrity • Visualization Design Principles • Graphic Design Principles

Graphical Integrity

Missing Scales ($11,410) ($4,200,000) Tufte, VDQI

Scale Distortions Nielson

Scale Distortions Flowing Data

Scale Distortions Flowing Data

Scale Distortions A. Kriebel, VizWiz

Scale Distortions

Scale Distortions

Scale Distortions

Scale Distortions

Global Warming? The Daily Mail, UK, Jan 2012

Global Warming? Mother Jones

Global Warming! Mother Jones

The Lie Factor Size of effect shown in graphic Size of effect in data Tufte, VDQI

The Lie Factor Tufte, VDQI

U.S. SmartPhone Marketshare 21.2% 39.0% RIM 3.1% Apple 7.4% Palm Motorola Nokia 9.8% Other 19.5%

U.S. SmartPhone Marketshare 21.2% RIM 39.0% Apple 3.1% Palm Motorola 7.4% Nokia Other 9.8% 19.5%

U.S. SmartPhone Marketshare 40% 39.0 30% 20% 21.2 19.5 10% 9.8 7.4 3.1 0% RIM Other Apple Palm Motorola Nokia

Tufte’s Integrity Principles • Clear, detailed, and thorough labeling and appropriate scales • Size of the graphic effect should be directly proportional to the numerical quantities (“lie factor”) • Show data variation, not design variation

Visualization Design Principles

Maximize Data-Ink Ratio Data ink Data-Ink Ratio = Total ink used in graphic 700 525 350 175 Males 0 Females 0-$24,999 $25,000+ 0-$24,999 $25,000+

Maximize Data-Ink Ratio Data ink Data-Ink Ratio = Total ink used in graphic 700 525 350 175 0 Males Females 0-$24,999 $25,000+ 0-$24,999 $25,000+

Avoid Chartjunk Extraneous visual elements that distract from the message ongoing, Tim Brey

Avoid Chartjunk ongoing, Tim Brey

Avoid Chartjunk ongoing, Tim Brey

Avoid Chartjunk ongoing, Tim Brey

Avoid Chartjunk ongoing, Tim Brey

Avoid Chartjunk ongoing, Tim Brey

Increase Data Density Number data items Data density = Area of data in graphic Ho et al., “Thermal Conductivity of the Elements: A Comprehensive Review” J. Phys. Chem. 1974

A. Cairo, The Functional Art

M. Novotny and H. Hauser, “Outlier-Preserving Focus+Context Visualization in Parallel Coordinates,” IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2006.

Steve Chappel and Reebe Garofalo in Rock 'N' Roll is Here to Pay: The History and Politics of the Music Industry, 1977

Tufte’s Design Principles • Maximize data-ink ratio • Avoid chart junk • Increase data density • Layer information

Subjective Dimensions • Aesthetics : Attractive things are perceived as more useful than unattractive ones • Style : Communicates brand, process, who the designer is • Playfulness : Encourages experimentation and exploration • Vividness : Can make a visualization more memorable Pat Hanrahan, Nov 2007

Graphic Design Principles

Robin Williams

C ontrast R epetition A lignment P roximity Robin Williams

C ontrast R epetition A lignment P roximity Robin Williams

Principle of Contrast If two items are not exactly the same, then make them different. Really different. Don’t be a wimp.

A. Cairo, The Functional Art

M. Meyer

D3, M. Bostock

R. Kosara, S. Miksch, and H. Hauser, “Focus+Context Taken Literally,” IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 2002.

C ontrast R epetition A lignment P roximity Robin Williams

Principle of Repetition Repeat some aspects of the design throughout the entire piece

Small Multiples D3, M. Bostock

A. Gelmann

M. Meyer, B. Wong, M. Styczynski and H. Pfister. “Pathline: A Tool For Comparative Functional Genomics”, Computer Graphics Forum, 2010

C ontrast R epetition A lignment P roximity Robin Williams

Principle of Alignment Nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily Every item should have a visual connection with something else

D3, M. Bostock

M. Meyer, B. Wong, M. Styczynski and H. Pfister. “Pathline: A Tool For Comparative Functional Genomics”, Computer Graphics Forum, 2010

C. Partl, A. Lex, M. Streit, D. Kalkofen, K. Kashofer, and D. Schmalstieg, “enRoute: Dynamic Path Extraction from Biological Pathway Maps for In-Depth Experimental Data Analysis,” IEEE Symposium on Biological Data Visualization, 2012

C ontrast R epetition A lignment P roximity Robin Williams

Principle of Proximity Group related items together . . . as physical closeness implies a relationship

Proximity Protovis, M. Bostock

M. Meyer, T. Munzner, A. DePace, H. Pfister, “MulteeSum: A Tool for Comparative Spatial and Temporal Gene Expression Data”, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2010

M. Dörk, S. Carpendale, and C. Williamson, “Visualizing explicit and implicit relations of complex information spaces,” Information Visualization, 2012

C ontrast R epetition A lignment P roximity Robin Williams

Further Reading

Stephen Few

Graph Design IQ Test Stephen Few, Perceptual Edge

Garr Reynolds

Next Week • HW1(due Thursday) • Bring laptops on Tuesday (Intro to Python) • Readings: Carpendale and Cleveland / McGill