A Dessau Approach to Data Visualization

Description

This data visualization workshop is a learn-by-doing opportunity. Much like the Dessau students who learned design principles by working with the materials to create every-day objects, participants will learn design principles through working with data to create meaningful visuals. Just as Bauhaus students learned manufacturing techniques, attendees will learn how to digitally manufacture what is to business an every-day necessity: data visualization. By applying the same principles of form and function that shaped modern design, this workshop will encourage designers to meet the demands of the growing field of data visualization.

This workshop will focus specifically on introducing participants to: Two basic forms of data visualization: static vs. interactive; collecting and examining data; identifying data relationships; creating data visualization using design principles (color, shape, scale, hierarchy, etc), and experimentation; and building a narrative out of data.

Timetable

  • Intro presentation (5 min)

Workshop Intro & structure quick run through (10 min)

  • Types of data
  • Types of data visualization
  • Examples of data visualizations vs. infographics

Small Data Exercise: (40 min)

  • Observe. Collect. Execute. Analyze
  • Objective: understand your communication habit in two platforms - via phone (digital) and face-to-face (physical) for the past 3 days

    • Observe & Collect

      • Via phone (digital)
      • (If you don't use social media, collect data from any messaging app or email)
      • Person of interaction (friends, acquaintance, business account, family member)
      • Type of interaction/type of language: # of posts, # of comments, and # of likes, emoji, text, sound, gif, etc.
      • Evaluate your interaction/emotion of each activity using a scale (ie: unsatisfied, neutral, satisfied; or disengaging, neutral, really engaging)
    • Face-to-face

      • Person of interaction: # of friends, # of coworkers, # of family, # of strangers
      • Types of interaction/type of language: verbal, non-verbal, emotional, eye contact, physical contact
      • Evaluate your interaction/emotion of each activity using scale (ie: unsatisfied, neutral, satisfied; or disengaging, neutral, really engaging)
    • Execute & Analyze

      • Execute: Participants are assigned a set of 3 objects/symbols to visualize their data. They can use elements of the symbol, deconstruct or combine shapes.
      • How to analyze the data you collect by identifying data relationships
      • How to visualize data

Big Data (20 min) - Observe. Analyze. Build a narrative

  • Observe & Analyze:
  • Participants are first assigned an Excel spreadsheet
  • Participants are given data visualization
  • Build narratives
  • Participants are asked to identify data relationship and prepare a short "narrative" of their findings.

Open discussion about the outcome (15 mins)

  • In pairs and or small groups
  • One person from each group summarizes and shares results/what they learned

Interaction

The audience will engage in learning through collecting and visualizing small sets of personal data; creating expressive data visualization through experimentation; and building and sharing narratives in a compelling way.

Participants will create a hand-drawn visualization using small, personal data, and write a short narrative using big data from open source data.

Takeaway

Upon completion, audiences will be able to:

  • Understand different types of data:
    • Qualitative data (metrics that identify trends) through bid data sets
    • Quantitative data (motivation-based) through personal data
  • Understand types of data visualization and when best to use them:
    • Interactive data
    • Infographic
  • Collect meaningful personal data and visualize data in an experimental way
  • Where to find open data source

For educators: will take home techniques that have been tested by design students for teaching data visualization and data narratives.

For students: will learn how to create data visualization to identify trends, problems, and solution opportunities.

Outcomes

The workshop seeks to build awareness around the importance of data visualization in our society and the role of designers in this field. Facilitators will collect images of the hand-drawn visualizations and share them to the university's blog and social media sites. Participants will be encouraged to share their findings and narratives on social media with appropriate hashtags.

One of the facilitators may use the small data workshop as a focus group research for thesis paper. This small data exercise surveys on the differences between digital vs physical communication including the language components including verbal, non-verbal, visual and emotional, and how they affect daily interaction with others.

The content of the workshop will be put together in a "how to" online publication or a printed booklet format about data visualization. The booklet will show designers (1) how to apply design principles to data visualization and (2) what data viz addresses in terms of identifying problems and design opportunities. It will be published online as a free downloadable PDF on the facilitators' own portfolio websites.

Abstract

Data visualization is at the intersection of art and industry. Corporations, institutions of higher education, and non-profit organizations gather massive amounts of data on their products, customers, and employees. However, data is useless to an organization unless it is actionable, and that is where designers step in. Through form, hierarchy, scale, and color, designers extract meaningful information buried within data sets. This visualization of data informs business decisions and program improvement.

A well-designed data visualization

  • either tells a story to quickly shed light on issues (typically in the form of infographics)
  • or invites users to embark on their own journey of discovery (generally through interactive data sets).

Data visualization is transforming how designers and design educators approach our work. It is an exciting place to be for newbies and experienced designers alike!