Data visualization: the next era in UIX
For years data visualization had a secondary position in the graphical area. It was the kingdom of pie chart.
Data visualization has a lot of importance in the scientific field, where it is important to understand at the first glance the meaning of a lot of data without having to read through them: in this case a visualization creates a map that represents numbers and words in way that makes aggregate information emerge.
For two years I was in a project for a scientific data visualization and I had the chance to dig into the theory of information visualization. I discovered a new world and a lot of paper wrote on this topic.
Nowadays, with new tools and framework for developing UI like WPF and RIA, it is becoming easy to develop interesting data visualization also for “everyday” applications.
But this requires a big mindshift in the way we design the user experience and we, as designers and developers, have to change the approach we use to represent data, and find more creative and meaningful way to represent complex data.
I think that data visualization is an important step in the future development of UI construction and for this reason I want to share with you some pointers that I found very useful during the studies in the last years.
Here are some books I recommend:
R. Spence [2007], Information Visualization, Design for Interaction – 2nd ed., Perason Educated Limited
E. R. Tufte [1983], The visual display of quantitative information, Graphic Press
E. R. Tufte [1990], Envisioning Information, Graphic Press
Stuart K. Card, Jock D. Mackinlay, Ben Shneiderman [1999],Readings in Information Visualization, Morgan Kaufmann
A good online resource is http://www.visualcomplexity.com/ that contains a collection of many data visualazions, grouped by types and shapes.
And if you have the chance to attend to MIX09, there are a few sessions about data visualization as well.
Technorati tags: UIX, WPF, RIA, data visualization