Prototype of my data visualization

Marcin Ignac

Marcin Ignac is a Polish artist programmer and designer (Ignac, 2010). His piece named 'Money Vis' has been one of the main influences for my project (seen below), it shows Ignac’s expenditure over three years. I like the simplicity of the white background among the eclectic, bursts of colour used for the bars. The diverse colours, breaking up the bar, are used to categorise what things he spent his money on. This technique of using colour to separate data against a white background is very clear and effective and I may use this technique for my data visualization.

 

Practising Icons

I want to use drinks instead of bars for my bar graph, so I have practised drawing the drinks in Adobe Illustrator and by hand. I prefer the hand-drawn drinks as they are not as static and will bring character to the graph.
I have also decided to use Adobe Flash to create my data visualization as I believe this will be the easiest way to create the graph. Henceforth, I will practise with the software in the following weeks. 

Hand drawn Data Visualisation Proposal

 To the right shows a screen shot of the NHS Drinks Tracker app that allows one to record how many units of alcohol they drink per day. The bar graph is very clear and easy to understand, thus I will use it as a guideline for my data visualization. The below image is a hand-drawn sketch of what I want my data visualization to look like.I will use drinks instead of bars and add audio and colour.

Research into Alcohol Consumption

Whilst researching into alcohol consumption I came across this website named drinkaware.co.uk. The website aims to inform people about the effects of excessive drinking and advises consumers of how many units they are allowed a week. Below shows an animation they have created to inform viewers: 

This website is very helpful for my project. The website itself also includes many data visualisations which may help and inform me on how to construct my visualisation.

Initial Ideas/ Proposal

I have decided to do the Data Visualisation brief. I began by thinking about the audience with which I wish to engage with; I thought it would be good to engage with a demographic of which I am also apart of, thus my target demographic will be University Students aged between 19 and 21. I wanted a theme which all students could relate to and understand, so my immediate thoughts were ideas around drinking and alcohol. Binge drinking and going out are part of a routine for many students and it becomes part of their lifestyle; evidently this is an unhealthy lifestyle to adopt. I find the amount of alcohol students drink quite shocking and believe most students do not realise how much they drink or the detrimental affect alcohol can have on their health. Hence I will investigate the amount of alcohol consumed by a group of university aged between 19-21. 

MAX Practice and Physical Interaction

They key reading by Kwastek aimed to define different uses and forms of the word 'interactivity,' also discussing the use of interactivity as an art form. I noted a few important quotes from the essay to aid my understanding of interactivity and where it began:

'It was not until the beginning of the 1960's that computer science had developed to a stage that allowed for the idea of real-time interaction between men and computers.' (2008, p.17)

'1968 the computer mouse was developed...from then on human-computer interaction was established as a highly specialised and interdisciplinary field within computer science.' (2008, p.17)

'Within the arts, epistemological and aesthetic concepts play a seminal role in the artists realisation of their ideas and in what the participant may gain from the artwork.' (2008, p.22)

'The work may tell or narrate something, document or inform, visualize or sonify, it may be built to enhance perception or to offer a game, to monitor something or to serve as an instrument, to transform, to collect and store, to process or mediate.' (2008, p.23)

I think the last quote is a great guideline for thinking about the purpose of my work. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve and the experience you want your audience to gain, will always lead to a successful outcome. 

MAX Practice

After exploring MAX in class, I spent an hour of my own time playing around with the different buttons and tools. I find the software very difficult to use and feel much more inclined to use the 'Processing' software. In addition, as I have mentioned before I prefer the Data Visualisation brief and I don't think MAX would be an appropriate software to use for that brief. 

Bibliography

Kwastek, K. (2008) Interactivity- A Word In Process., C. Sonmerer et al. (Eds.): The Art & Sci. of Interface & Inter. Des, SCI 141, pp.15-26

Data Visualisation Practice

One of the briefs asks to examine a form of activity and construct in into an interactive visualisation. The visualisation involves 'Processing' a form of computer coding. At first glance the coding looks very complicated, but I prefer this brief more than the others, so I have read more around the subject of processing and data visualisations.

One of the key readings provided is named 'What is Code?' It stated that code developed in the 1940's to assist with work in the fields of science and engineering. (McWilliams and Reas 2010, p.21) We can see now how coding has developed from computer science to become an aesthetic experience, (McWilliams and Reas 2010, p.25) an exciting visual for audiences. I have noted a few inspirational quotes from the text which may influence my final project. One by Marshall McLuhen states 'today we're beginning to realise that the new media aren't just mechanical gimmicks for creating worlds of illusion, but new languages with new and unique powers of expression.' (McLuhen 1957, cited in McWilliams and Reas 2010 p.25) The other is, 'it is here that the computer ceases to be a tool and instead becomes a medium.' (McWilliams and Reas 2010, p.25)

Additional Reading

I did further reading into the book Data Flow: Visualizing Information Graphic Design 2. Once again I noted down some interesting and inspirational quotes to aid my final project, they are:

'Experiments- be they of a visual nature or in interactive design- are vital to thriving innovation, and since information visualization is just growing out of its baby shoes, we should embrace it.' (Bourguin, Ehmann and Klanten, 2010, p.6)

'We should be aware that the field of information visualization is far more than a creative playground. It is an indispensable instrument to cope with the massive amounts of data we are confronted with.'  (Bourguin, Ehmann and Klanten, 2010, p.8)

'Information can change people's behaviour.'  (Bourguin, Ehmann and Klanten, 2010, p.8)

'Making that information visible, easily understandable and enjoyable to use, is probably one of the most interesting challenges designers have ever encountered.'  (Bourguin, Ehmann and Klanten, 2010, p.8)

Practising with Processing

I began to practice processing by using Ben Fry's book Visualizing Data: Exploring and Explaining Data with the Processing Environment. (2007) Chapter Three, 'Mapping,' explains how to upload an image and plot points on a map using the Processing software.  To the left are screen shots of me following the instructions in the chapter. Despite it being quite hard to follow, I think I want to pursue the data visualisation brief; thus I will persevere with processing and practice more in the forthcoming weeks. 















Bibliography

Bourguin, N,. Ehmann, S., Klanten, R. (2010) Data Flow: Visualizing Information Graphic Design 2. Frankfurt: Die Gestalten Verlag

Fry, B. (2007) Visualizing Data: Exploring and Explaining Data with the Processing Environment. California: O'Reilly Media

McWilliams, C., Reas, C. (2010) Form+Code in Design, Art, and Architecture. New York: Princeton Architectural Press