Data Visualization Process reflection 1
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Table of Contents 4. Research 8. Discovery 14. Refinement 18. Criticism
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Data Collection
The data I collected was based on 6 days of objects. As someone who surrounds herself with coffee addicts the choice was clear: 6 days of coffee. For 6 days I kept track of the Coffee I encountered and some variables associated with it, such as: type of coffee, location, reason for getting it, time, what was added to eat, and what was eaten with it. Once I had collected my data I realized there weren’t strong enough controls because I was keeping track of everybody from friends to siblings to parents. The second week I retook my data to provide a sample of what a random average might look like for the college coffee drinkers at WUSTL. This way
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Discovery
The data representation workshop was an eye opener in ways represent data. A table full of art supplies and a sheet of butcher paper on which there is no failure, only opportunities for new ideas. I began to think about data beyond the excel pie charts and graphs that I had previously only been exposed to. The only hard and fast rule for Data Visualization became representing the data clearly, but developing a new visual language became fair game.
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Focus
Wake up
Conversational
Routine
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Day
Thurs
Fri
Sat
Sun
Mon
Focus
Wake up
Tues
Wed
Time 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 5:30 6:00
Coffeeshop
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Home
Conversational
Routine
6 DAYS OF COLLEGE
CAFFEINATION
6 DAYS OF COLLEGE
CAFFEINATION
Saturday
Morning
Saturday Afternoon
Morning
Friday
Friday Afternoon
Sunday
Morning
Sunday Afternoon
Thursday
Morning
Thursday Afternoon
Monday
Morning
Monday Afternoon
Home Coffee Shop Campus
Tuesday
Home Wakeup
Morning
Wakeup Art Sci
Focus
Sam Fox
Social
Tuesday Afternoon
Art Sci Sam Fox
Focus
Coffee Shop
Social
Campus
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Refinement
I realized at this point, I was getting stuck in the XY plane for data representation. I decided I wanted to break out of it. I was still enjoying drawing the mugs as a more literal unit of representation for each coffee cup consumed. I was encouraged to go for the full illustrative method. I knew I wanted to end up some place in between a traditional data driven representation and an illustrative. I decided in order to push myself out of those traditional data representational methods, I had to go all the way to illustration and then pull back.
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Wakeup
Home Coffee Shop
Focus
Campus
Social
6 DAYS OF COLLEGE
CAFFEINATION
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
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Criticism The feedback I received on the Illustrative version was positive. It was effective compared to previous versions that were confined to vector graphics. The criticism was that a middle style could still be achieved. I mixed in some digitized type: MrsEaves small caps titling and body copy to add the context the illustrated images previously were trying to achieve but not effective in providing. I kept the base of the original illustration, streamlined the visual language on the table signs. The last thing I addressed was arranging all the elements so they had a clear visual hierarchy for the viewer’s orientation in the data: first, drawn in by the illustration, given context by the title, guidance by the key, and last the controls given by body copy. Overall, I am happy with how this turned out. In a revision I would probably go back and refine minor details of the illustration and consider adding a clearer time element to the original image instead of as a stat in the body copy.
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Megan Stansbury Word and Image II Data Visualization Typeface:Didot Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts Fall Semester, 2018 20