Functional Aesthetics for Data Visualization

What happens when a researcher and a practitioner spend hours crammed in a Fiat discussing data visualization? Beyond creating beautiful charts, they found greater richness in the craft as an integrated whole.
 
Drawing from their unconventional backgrounds, these two women take readers through a journey around perception, semantics, and intent as the triad that influences visualization. This visually engaging book blends ideas from theory, academia, and practice to craft beautiful, yet meaningful visualizations and dashboards.
 
How do you take your visualization skills to the next level? The book is perfect for analysts, research and data scientists, journalists, and business professionals. Functional Aesthetics for Data Visualization is also an indispensable resource for just about anyone curious about seeing and understanding data. Think of it as a coffee book for the data geek in you.
 
https://www.functionalaestheticsbook.com

List of contents

Acknowledgments ix
 
About the Authors xi
 
About the Technical Editor xii
 
Foreword by Pat Hanrahan xiii
 
Introduction xv
 
Part A: Perception 1
 
Chapter 1: The Science Behind Perception 3
 
Seeing and Understanding Imagery 3
 
Color Cognition 6
 
Saccade and Directed Attention 10
 
The Notion of Space and Spatial Cognition 11
 
Diagramming the World 13
 
Summary 20
 
Chapter 2: Perception in Charts 21
 
Visualization and Task 23
 
Chart as an Informational Unit 24
 
Unboxing Functional Aesthetics in the Physical World 27
 
Recursive Proportions 28
 
The Digitized Space: Creating Experiences on the Screen 31
 
Summary 34
 
Chapter 3: Charts in Use 35
 
The First Charts 36
 
Standardizing Visualization 40
 
The Shifting Role of Data Visualization 43
 
Maturity within the Profession 49
 
Summary 56
 
Part B: Semantics 57
 
Chapter 4: Coming to Terms 59
 
Statistical Graphics Are Inherently Abstract 60
 
Flattening the Curve 63
 
Toward Meaningful Depictions 65
 
Situating with Semiotics 68
 
Summary 69
 
Chapter 5: Vagueness and Ambiguity 71
 
How Tall Is Tall? 71
 
Spicy or Hot--What's
 
the Difference? 76
 
Clarification, Repair, and Refinement 78
 
Iconicity of Representation 80
 
The Art of Chart 82
 
Summary 85
 
Chapter 6: Data Literacy 87
 
Navigating Data Literacy 89
 
The Impact of Writing 90
 
Data Orality 92
 
Changing Exposition Styles 96
 
Data Literacy Democratization 97
 
Summary 99
 
Chapter 7: Data Preparation 101
 
Hairy Dates 102
 
Common Transformations 103
 
Clarity in Conversation 107
 
Shaping for Intent 109
 
Prepping for the Future 110
 
Data Enrichment 113
 
Summary 115
 
Chapter 8: Scaling It Down 117
 
Generalization 118
 
Natural Sizes 119
 
Fat Fingers and Small Screens 120
 
Color as a Function of Size 123
 
Thumbnails and Visual Summaries 124
 
Summary 128
 
Chapter 9: Cohesive Data Messages 129
 
Cohesion in Designing Visualizations 131
 
Analytical Conversation 144
 
Summary 152
 
Chapter 10: Text and Charts 153
 
Medium Being the Message 154
 
Types of Text 155
 
Balancing Text with Charts 161
 
Chart and Text Agreement 163
 
Text in Analytical Conversation 166
 
Making Data More Accessible 168
 
Text for Supporting Reading Fluency 170
 
Summary 171
 
Part C: Intent 173
 
Chapter 11: Defining and Framing 175
 
Analytical Intent 176
 
Register 178
 
Repair and Refinement 179
 
Pragmatics 181
 
Practicing Intent 182
 
Summary 185
 
Chapter 12: Visual Communication 187
 
Do What I Mean, Not What I Say 189
 
Register in Charts 192
 
Registers in Composition 194
 
Mood and Metaphor 197
 
Beyond Language Communication 197
 
Expansion and Contraction 200
 
Summary 201
 
Chapter 13: Scaffolds 203
 
Visualization Scaffolding 206
 
Scaffolding Data Discovery 210
 
Scaffolding Natural Language Recommendations 213
 
Analytical Conversation to Repair and Refine 217
 
Summary 221
 
Chapter 14: Balancing Emphasis 223
 
Individual Choices

About the author

VIDYA SETLUR, PhD, is the head of Tableau Research. She earned her doctorate in Computer Graphics in 2005 at Northwestern University. Her expertise is in natural language processing and computer graphics, and she seeks to develop new algorithms and user interfaces that enhance communication and understanding.
BRIDGET COGLEY is the Chief Visualization Officer at Versalytix and is a Tableau Hall of Fame Visionary. As an American Sign Language interpreter turned analyst, her practice incorporates semantics to draw meaning in her designs. She focuses on innovative use cases in data visualization.

Summary

What happens when a researcher and a practitioner spend hours crammed in a Fiat discussing data visualization? Beyond creating beautiful charts, they found greater richness in the craft as an integrated whole.

Drawing from their unconventional backgrounds, these two women take readers through a journey around perception, semantics, and intent as the triad that influences visualization. This visually engaging book blends ideas from theory, academia, and practice to craft beautiful, yet meaningful visualizations and dashboards.

How do you take your visualization skills to the next level? The book is perfect for analysts, research and data scientists, journalists, and business professionals. Functional Aesthetics for Data Visualization is also an indispensable resource for just about anyone curious about seeing and understanding data. Think of it as a coffee book for the data geek in you.

https://www.functionalaestheticsbook.com

Report

"Straight away, you can tell this is a labour of love - the enthusiasm and validity with which the authors describe elements from the three elements of theory, academia and practice really shine through. With backgrounds covering all three of these areas, it makes for a complete publication, full of examples not just from practical situations as a practitioner, but from theory - focusing in particular on theory of presentation, psychology, conversation and cognition. All things which influence creation of functional and aesthetic dashboards, most of which, like me, you probably hadn't considered in requisite depth until now..."
--Neil Richards, four time Tableau Visionary and Director of Editorial for Viz For Social Good

Product details

• Authors: Bridget Cogley, Bridget Setlur Cogley, Northwestern Univ, V Setlur, Vidya Setlur, Vidya (Tableau Research Setlur, Vidya Cogley Setlur
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.08.2022
• EAN: 9781119810087
• ISBN: 978-1-119-81008-7
• No. of pages: 336
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > IT, data processing > IT; Informatik, Visualisierung, computer science, Datenvisualisierung, Data Mining & Knowledge Discovery, Data Mining u. Knowledge Discovery