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Abstract
This article proposes a pair of projects offered in a single studio course that challenges design students to design and develop interactive data visualizations for the web through prototyping and coding through JavaScript. Through prototyping, the studio class can be engaged in a series of visual inquiries in which they identify and challenge some of the assumptions and issues surrounding visualization and offer new modes of representation and interaction. On the other hand, the coding components expose students to the specialized mechanics of data visualization through the lens of computer science. And the technical restrictions around coding can help direct students to move beyond the singular focus of graphical aesthetics and towards approaching data visualization as a larger exercise that draws from lessons in colour and typography, in order to shape the overall user experience of disseminating and interacting with data. While being positioned and framed as two seemingly different data visualization assignments, the said projects are meant to serve as a meaningful extension from conventional interactive design and infographic assignments and help renegotiate the boundaries between the specializations within the graphic design curriculum.
Notes
1. Shen et al., “Sketch-based Interactive Visualization,” 276.
2. Cairo, The Functional Art, 79.
3. Knaflic, “Storytelling With Data,” 19.
4. Bui, Katz and Lee, “The David Bowie Song That Fans are Listening to Most.”
5. McCandless, “The Beauty of Data Visualization.”
6. DeBold, “Battling Infectious Diseases in the 20th Century.”
7. Aisch, “In Defense of Interactive Graphics.”
8. “NAPA Cards: Narrative Patterns for Data Stories.”
9. Yau, “Data Points,” 143.
10. Chopplin, “Emissions by Transport Type.”
11. Aisch, “Data Visualizations and the News.”
12. Baur, “The Death of Interactive Graphics?”