1. User-Centered
Information & Diagram Design
How to Make Lasagna
Instead of Spaghetti
Noah P. N. Iliinsky
InfoCamp Seattle
September 27th and 28th, 2008
2. =
=
?
Spaghetti and Lasagna Diagrams (Linkbat, n. d.; UNL, n. d.; Vittlesvamp, n. d.)
4. • Why is more complexity difficult?
• there are a finite number of visual properties to
use to encode knowledge
• encoding more knowledge makes selecting
properties more difficult
• Why are qualitative relationships difficult to
represent?
• fewer conventions than with quantitative
relationships
• the author must convey metaphor as well as
message
5. Intentional choices are superior to arbitrary choices.
How do you make good, intentional choices?
• Your Goals
[Different Goals Require Different Methods]
• Their Needs
[Audience Brings Context With Them]
• What to Include
[Principle of Information Availability]
• Where to Put It
[Principle of Semantic Distance]
• How Does it Look
[Principle of Informative Changes]
6. The Diagram Design Process
• Definition of goals and needs
• Selection of content
• Encoding and placement of content
• axes
• nodes
• links
7. Your Goals
[Different Goals Require Different Methods]
•Inform / Educate
•Broad overview?
• Focused detail?
• Persuade
• Get a raise?
• Protest war?
10. • Their Needs
[Audience Brings Context With Them]
• accounts for the needs of the diagram user
• the design of the diagram must address its use
• Understanding context is critical
• facilitates learning and acceptance
• applies to every phase of the diagram design process
• includes inherent and learned contexts
11. What to Include
[Principle of Information Availability]
• only present necessary information
• redundant encoding is good
• more detail can be good or bad
• extraneous decoration is usually bad
14. Where to Put It
[Principle of Semantic Distance]
• people ascribe meaning to location
• relative placement matters
• absolute placement matters
• lines & boxes join or divide groups
A
B
15. Axes give you information for free!
(and it contributes in two different ways)
18. How Does it Look
[Principle of Informative Changes]
• people will detect patterns, and ascribe meaning to
patterns and pattern violations
• Implications: Consistency!
• establish patterns and stick with them
• things that are the same should look the same
• things that are different should look different
• preserve order in placement and lists
23. • too much information
• no clear goal
• arbitrary placement
• doesn’t consider my needs
• semi-consistent encoding
(Poyser, n. d.)
24. Thank you!
Full thesis available at ComplexDiagrams.com
Please send thoughts, questions, or interesting data sets to
gmail: iliinsky
•Community Mesh. (2003). Community Mesh diagram. Retrieved February 7, 2005, from http://www.communitymesh.com/images/diagram.jpg
•Horton, W. (1991). Illustrating Computer Documentation: the Art of Presenting Information Graphically on Paper and Online. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
•Kosslyn, S. M. (1994). Elements of Graph Design. New York: W. H. Freeman and Co.
•Leiper, Q. (2003). ICEngineering Knowledge. Retrieved September 16, 2004, from http://www.ice.org.uk/downloads/EK_contribution_to_ICE Strategy.pdf
•Linkbat. (n. d.). Entity Relationship Diagram. Retrieved November 18, 2004, from http://www.linux-tutorial.info /Linkbat/Development/ERD.png
•McNamara, T. P. (1986). Mental representations of spatial relations. Cognitive Psychology, 18, 87-121.
•Minard, C. J. (1861). Figurative chart of the successive losses of men of the French Army in the countryside of Russia. Retrieved February 8, 2005, from http://
www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/graphics/minard_lg.gif
•Poyser, M. (n. d.). Wall Street Follies diagram. Retrieved February 22, 2005, from http://www.wallstreetfollies.com/diagrams.htm
•UNL Lancaster. (n. d.). spaghetti.jpg. Retrieved March 16, 2006, from http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/planning/programmes/BSc%20diagram.jpg
•USNS Niagra Falls. (n. d.) ORG CHART.JPG. Retrieved January 13, 2006, from http://www.msc.navy.mil/niagarafalls/Life%20Onboard_files/ORG%20CHART.JPG
•Vittlesvamp. (n. d.). lasagna.jpg. Retrieved March 16, 2006, from http://www.vittlesvamp.com/images/lasagna.jpg
•Votemaster. (2008). Electoral Votes Cartogram. Retrieved September 27, 2008, from http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Pres/Carto/Sep27-c.html
•Votemaster. (2008). Electoral Votes Map. Retrieved September 27, 2008, from http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Pres/Maps/Sep27.html
•Werschkul, B. (2004). Election Results Graphic. Retrieved September 27, 2008, from http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/politics/2004_ELECTIONRESULTS_GRAPHIC/
index.html
•Williams, T. R. (2000, August). Guidelines for Designing and Evaluating the Display of Information on the Web [Electronic Version]. Technical Communication, 47, 383-396.
•Winn, W. D. & Holliday, W. G. (1982). Design Principles for Diagrams and Charts. In D. Jonassen (Ed.), The Technology of Text (pp. 277-299). Englewood Cliffs: Educational
Technology Publications.