It’s safe to say I’m a bit obsessed with infographics. When I designed my first one I felt like my design and math backgrounds were finally coming together. I loved watching this documentary because data visualization is such a powerful tool for communication and these researchers have dedicated their careers to advancing the field. They frame information visualization as a way to change how users think about the world. I couldn’t agree more and think that designers have an amazing opportunity to increase awareness and openness of big data. I chose to research visualization for my literature review this semester and found that a lot of my research parallels the ideas presented in this video.
Specifically, I loved how they discussed the increase of statisticians in the industry. I read an article in my research that was written about InfoVis from a statistical perspective. The authors, both statisticians, urge designers and mathematicians to collaborate more effectively to enhance to goals and outcomes of InfoVis. The most efficient infographics are both visually appealing and accurate representations of data sets. I love that more statisticians are taking control of the field and setting the standard for data visualizations in the future.
The video also positions visualizations as narratives. Interactive storytelling is an upcoming trend in InfoVis with so much potential. Finding a story in a data set makes the information incredibly powerful. The challenge moving forward is how to capitalize on these trends and draw users in, while maintaining the high standards of statistic rich data driven pieces.
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