The document discusses the balance between form and function in data visualization, emphasizing the contrast between analytical/pragmatic and emotive approaches. It includes perspectives from various experts on the importance of effective communication through visual means, highlighting that understanding human perception is crucial for creating impactful visualizations. It also stresses that while aesthetics matter, the ultimate goal is to enhance data readability and user engagement.

1. Opposites Attract:
The Art and Science
of Data Visualisation
Andy Kirk
@visualisingdata

2. Visualising Data Ltd.

3. Opposites attract

5. The enduring discussion
about form and function
Opposites repel?

7. com·mu·ni·ca·tion noun
The act or an instance of
communicating; the imparting or
exchange of information, ideas,
or feelings

8. Formal, instructive, pragmatic

9. Creative, natural, emotive

10. Analytical/Pragmatic
Abstract/Emotive
Exploratory
Explanatory
Analytical/Pragmatic
Abstract/Emotive
Judging tone

11. The trade off between accuracy
and aesthetics:
Read data vs Feel data
Pragmatism vs Emotion
Science vs Art

13. Emphasis on reading data…

14. Getting visualisation right is
much more a science than an art,
which we can only achieve by
studying human perception.
Stephen Few
http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/data_visualization_for_human_perception.html

15. A visualization is more effective
than another visualization if
the information conveyed by one
visualization is more readily
perceived than the information in
the other visualization.
Jock Mackinlay
http://hci.stanford.edu/courses/cs448b/f10/lectures/CS448B-20100923-DataAndImageModels.pdf

16. http://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/visual_business_intelligence/the_chartjunk_debate.pdf
The Chart Junk Debate | Stephen Few

17. http://www.visualisingdata.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/GenderAnalysis.png

21. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/01/business/20090301_WageGap.html
Wage Gap | New York Times

22. Visual Cortex
Seeing
Cerebral Cortex
Thinking
Visual perception

23. Images from http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/ss/gestaltlaws.htm
Theoretical ancestry

24. Jacques Bertin, ‘Semiologie Graphique’, 1967
Cleveland & McGill, ‘Graphical Perception: Theory, experimentation and application to the development of graphical methods’”, 1984
Theoretical ancestry

25. B=9
A=10
Length
Area
A=10
B=9
Interpretive accuracy

26. http://blog.revolutionanalytics.com/2012/12/create-optical-illusions-with-r.html
Colour perception

27. http://blog.visual.ly/2ds-company-3ds-a-crowd/
Visual distortions

29. Emphasis on feeling data…

30. I'm just seeing what I basically
know... But I felt it in a way I never
had before. You can feel a good
data visualization.
Amanda Cox
http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/hbreditors/2013/03/power_of_visualizations_aha_moment.html

31. Mapping America: Every City, Every Block | New York Times
http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer

32. I have this fear that we aren’t
feeling enough.
Chris Jordan, TED Talk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f09lQ8Q1iKE&feature=youtu.be&t=5m11s

33. Running the Numbers II: Portraits of Global Mass Culture | Chris Jordan
http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/rtn2/#gyre2

34. 43#
1#
Number#of#white#American#presidents# Number#of#non8white#American#presidents#
Encapsulate the feeling of a subject?

35. http://guns.periscopic.com/?year=2010
US Gun Murders | Periscopic
Encapsulate the feeling of a subject?

36. http://graphics-info.blogspot.hk/2012/09/malofiej-20-look-at-our-participation.html
Iraq’s Bloody Toll | Simon Scarr
Encapsulate the feeling of a subject?

37. http://www.grahaphics.com/All-The-Medalists
Storytelling
One Race, Every Medalist, Ever | New York Times

38. http://moritz.stefaner.eu/projects/musli-ingredient-network/
“I chose the chord diagram over the possibly more
revealing matrix design because the matrix doesn't look
‘tasty’ and muesli shouldn't look like ‘fungi’”
Design sensibility
Muesli Ingredients Network | Moritz Stefaner

39. http://hint.fm/wind/
Wind Map | Hint FM
Design sensibility

40. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s5PzYfPlDoc/T8kmZ1-gPPI/AAAAAAAAAYc/7kFmM94bPMU/s1600/literaryOrganism2.jpg
Literary Organism | Stefanie Posavec
Conceptual skills

41. http://infosthetics.com/archives/2012/03/nasa_perpetual_ocean_the_ocean_surface_currents_around_the_world.html
Perpetual Ocean | NASA
Technical flair

42. http://lasombra.blogs.com/la_sombra_del_asno/2013/03/kwc.html
Execution skills
City of Anarchy | Adolfo Arranz

43. La Ballena Franca | Jaime Serra
Art direction
http://www.malofiej21.com/la-ballena-franca-grafico-mas-influente-de-los-ultimos-veinte-anos/

44. http://oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/united-kingdom/
OECD Better Life Index | Moritz Stefaner & Raureif
UX design

45. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/02/us/politics/paths-to-the-white-house.html
512 Paths to the White House | New York Times
UX design

46. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tkDK2mZlOo
Inconvenient Truth | Al Gore
Drama

47. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2012/nov/05/you-decide-the-presidential-election-interactive
You Decide the Presidential Elections | Guardian US
Fun

48. http://emoto2012.org | http://ciid.dk/education/portfolio/idp12/courses/data-visualisation/projects/tasty-tweets/
Emoto | Moritz Stefaner, Studio NAND, Drew Hemment
Experimentation
Tasty Tweets | Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design

49. Smells of Auld Reekie | Kate McLean
http://www.sensorymaps.com/maps_cities/edi_smell.html
Beyond just the visual…

50. It depends

51. What is good? What is bad?
What is right? What is wrong?
Who is right? Who is wrong?
Why?!

52. Everyone is right.
Sometimes.
In certain contexts.

54. Who is your audience?
http://probaperception.blogspot.fr/2012/10/the-best-strategy-to-play-guess-who.html

55. http://youtu.be/hVimVzgtD6w?t=1m1s
Setting?

56. Functional needs?

57. http://kennedyelliott.com/visualize-this.png
Need for immediacy?
Where the Public Gets its News | Kennedy Elliott

58. Scope for learnability?
http://infobawards.s3.amazonaws.com/SPOTLIGHT-ON-PROFITABILITY_Krisztina-Szucs.png
Spotlight on Movie Profitability | Krisztina Szucs

59. http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/03/27/harold-bloom-genius-visualization/
Scope for learnability?
History’s 100 Geniuses of Language and Literature | Accurat

60. Format? Technical capabilities?

61. The real craft behind data
visualisation design is how we
rationalise choices within a context
“It depends...”

62. Be confident that you can justify
the inclusion, exclusion and
deployment of every design
property
Justified design

63. http://www.itsbeenreal.co.uk/index.php?/wwwords/literary-organism/
Literary Organism | Stefanie Posavec
Justified design

64. http://hellogiggles.com/everything-i-need-to-know-i-learned-from-jurassic-park
Justified design

65. Spanner in the works

66. There are better and worse, but
rarely perfect solutions

68. “You can lead a horse to water…”
http://www.redbubble.com/people/rebelpony/works/1073982-you-can-lead-a-horse-to-water

81. Moods
Tastes
Personalities
Contexts
Pressures
Inconsistencies
Blind-spots
Confidence
Temperament
Prejudices
Irrationalities
Fears
People are not rational

82. http://visual.ly/?view=explore

84. http://readwrite.com/2013/02/05/brand-marketers-totally-miss-social-media-influencers

86. “Data visual-what-did-you-call-it?”

87. http://www.forbes.com/sites/naomirobbins/2013/02/04/misleading-newspaper-graph/

89. https://twitter.com/Mapitup/status/266420231902216192

90. http://skepchick.org/wp-content/uploads/venezuela.png

91. 3 closing thoughts

92. We’ve still got a long way to go.
Let’s enjoy the ride together.

93. Pragmatic 80
Creative 20

94. When I'm working on a problem,
I never think about beauty.
I think only how to solve the
problem. But when I have finished,
if the solution is not beautiful,
I know it is wrong.
Richard Buckminster Fuller
http://www.quotes.net/quote/7377

95. www.visualisingdata.com
andy@visualisingdata.com
@visualisingdata