Draw Me A Visualization

The goal for this first assignment is for students to think critically about visualization design, through the creation of a visual representation of data where every design decision is justified: (i) with regard to considerations of the guidelines and theory covered in class, and (ii) without the technical and practical constraints associated with implementation or data access, i.e. students can draw their vision as opposed to work with a charting tool.

Instructions

In this assignment, you will design a visualization for a dataset of your choice (could be a real, simulated, or assumed one) and provide a rigorous rationale for your design choices. You should in theory be ready to explain the contribution of every pixel in the display.

Your Task.

Your task is to (a) design a static visualization to effectively communicate a set of specific findings from data and (b) provide a short write-up describing the main takeaway message that your visualization aims to convey (first paragraph), as well as a description of your design (no more than 6 paragraphs).

What data can I use?

This is more of a thought experiment, than it is an exercise testing your competency finding data relevant to a problem or a test of your implementation skills. As such, we leave the choice of the dataset open: you may decide to work with an existing real-world data set, or simulated one, to ground your thinking -- this however may be limiting your creativity. We instead encourage you to start with a topic of your interest, and interesting insights one may want to learn about the topic, based on data. From there, you may be able to find relevant datasets, but we allow you to assume you have access to complete, up-to-date dataset that would allow you to realize your visualization vision.

For instance, I may be interested in communicating about the effect of climate change on populations of arctic birds and bears. I can think about what a best visualization design would allow the reader: (a) to get a good sense of what "climate change" entails in this region, e.g. by crafting charts that allow to understand the evolution of temperatures, ice mass, and precipitations in their geographical context; and (b) to gain a detailed understanding of different populations of bears, birds, i.e., their head count and other relevant information that may allow the reader to have a more complete perspective on other relevant factors, e.g. availability of food (fish, fruits, etc...), presence of predators, reproduction cycles, etc, that allow to put numbers in perspective (while also creating additional challenges for the visualization, which is the goal of the exercise). Here, we can assume we have all of this data available, that is, you are allowed to create a mock a dataset. The goal of the exercise being: assuming we have all of this data handy, what would be a great visualization design to communicate data-based insights?

Now, if you are more comfortable working from an existing dataset, start by analyzing the data and collecting interesting insights. After that, choose a particular set of related insights that answer a particular question, and create a visualization that communicates the answer based on your insights.

What tool should I use?

In short: Pick the tool that allow you to realize your vision, not a tool where your expressivity will be limited.
You are free to use any graphics tool you want — including drafting it by hand. We strongly encourage you to use paper and color crayons/pencils/markers, that allow free-form drawing, or alternately, tablet drawing applications such as Sketchbook or Notability, and vector graphics applications such as Inkscape, Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer etc... In this exercise, the focus is on the visualization concept and associated rationale behind design decisions, not the accuracy of the visualization with regard to assumed underlying data.

Requirements for the visualization.

Your chart image should be interpretable without recourse to your short write-up. Do not forget to include title, axis labels, or legends as needed! You may also integrate annotations that would be relevant to the reader. Recall, however, that every design decision should be justified.

What should go in the write-up?

In your write-up, you should provide a rigorous rationale for your design decisions. Provide a short write-up describing the main takeaway message that your visualization aims to convey (first paragraph), as well as a description of your design (no more than 6 paragraphs).
Document the visual encodings you used and why they are appropriate for the data and your specific question. These decisions include the choice of visualization type, size, color, scale, and other visual elements, as well as the use of sorting or other data transformations, color schemes, supporting annotations, etc... How do these decisions facilitate effective communication?
As different visualizations can emphasize different aspects of a data set, you should also document what aspects of the data you are attempting to communicate. In short, what story are you trying to tell? What takeaway message do you want to convey to your audience? You should also note which aspects of the data might be obscured due to your visualization design.

Grading

This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade.

We will determine scores by judging both the completeness and soundness of your design and the quality of the write-up. We will also look for consideration of audience, message, and intended task.

Visualization Design (5 pts)

Exceeds expectations (5 pts)

a. The visualization design is the result of excellent choice of encodings b. The visualization design is very creative and original c. The visualization design is very clear, and very effective in communication.

Meets expectations (4 pts)

a. The visualization design is the result of good choice of encodings. Some elements are unnecessary or unmotivated. b. The visualization design is reasonably creative and original. c. The visualization design is reasonably clear and effective in communication.

Needs improvements (3 pts)

a. Several encodings are questionable and/or ineffective. b. The visualization design is not very creative nor original. c. The visualization design is somewhat confusing and/or affects effective communication.

Unsatisfactory (0-2 pt)

a. The visual encodings are poorly chosen. b. The visualization design has been clearly rushed and not thought through. c. The visualization design is very confusing and fails at communicating the intended message.

Write-up (5pts)

Exceeds expectations (5 pts)

a. The chosen question and insights are discussed very clearly, concisely and in depth b. The design rationale is clearly articulated and discussed in depth (i.e. tradeoffs and alternatives are considered, all dimensions are justified, limitations are outlined)

Meets expectations (4 pts)

a. The chosen question and insights are discussed clearly. b. The design rationales are reasonably well articulated, and reasonably complete. Clarity and/or completeness could be improved.

Needs improvements (3 pts)

a. The chosen questions and insights are discussed but lack clarity. b. The design rationale is discussed, but not very clearly or not in depth.

Unsatisfactory (0-2 pt)

a. The chosen questions and insights are barely discussed, and/or are poorly articulated. b. The design rationales is barely discussed, and/or poorly articulated.

Your written documents should be of top professional quality. Note that points will be subtracted subject to the following motives: missing components, poor presentation (e.g. poor formatting), lack of clarity (e.g. poor writing, poor organization).