info.design © 2008 email: thom@thomhaller.com national academies communicating complex...

National Academies

Communicating Complex Information: Part II

Thom Hallerthom@thomhaller.comwww.thomhaller.com

PrincipalInfo.Design, Inc.www.infodn.com

Overview

We bring together words and images in ways that enable people to understand, take action, or make decisions.

We are challenged to think strategically about content – how we focus it, organize it, and present it.

We have the opportunity to present words and images in a way that support readers’ interests.

This week you will:

Review “what sticks” and explore homework

Identify when to use text, icons, visual aids, and information graphics

Use visuals to help people make comparisons

Use text and visuals to tell a story

Identify and incorporate techniques for refining your work.

Time Chunk #1:What Sticks?Homework Examples

What Sticks From Last Week

Experienced what happens to us (humans) as we interact with information.

Learned a strategic framework for communicating complexity.

Explored techniques for focusing content.

Explored techniques for presenting content.

Explore homework

Assemble into groups of three (or four) “Show and tell”

Show to group members what you did; relate your results to lessons from Week 1.

Identify person to report back his/her example to the class.

Report back. “What choices did you make to improve your

communication product to make the complex clear?”

Time Chunk #2:Identify when to use icons, words, visual aids, information graphics

Overview

If we are to create documents that take readers seriously, we will need a view that allows us to imagine readers other than ourselves actively engaging with words and pictures.

Karen Schriver, Dynamics of Document Design, p3

Humans Want Meaningful Data

“If information does not inform (support someone in understanding) than it is only data, only stuff.”

– Richard Saul Wurman

Our Choices:

Images

Information Graphics

Animation

"Words form the thread on which we string our experiences."

– Aldous Huxley

Our Choices:

Images

Animation

Words are representations of information.

When we “write” we form words and present them in a specific order.

Readers interact with the words and word order to create meaning.

Proliferation of Words

In modern scientific research, 25 % of published materials are graphs, tables, diagrams, and images. The other 75% are words.

– Edward Tufte, Beautiful Evidence

Words are often best for:

Abstract concepts Such as truth and justice

Procedural information Sequencing thoughts on page Content provides step-by-step

instruction highlighting numbers

Qualifying information Such as IF/THEN

Developing argument

“The mind’s eye is magical.”

– David Finn “How to Look at Everything”

Our Choices:

Images

Animation

Use Images to:

Define an entity Show time relationships Localize information Support memorization Present detail

Images Define

Images Define:We “see” by relating images to what we know

Images Show Time Relationships/Sequence

Images show time

Timelines illustrate progression

Images show time

Images support timelines

Images show time

Illustrated process

Help users see sequence and hierarchy

Help users find sequence and hierarchy and organization.

Use graphic cues to prioritize the way information is received

Graphic cues (numbers) prioritize the way information is received

Images show time

Illustrated procedure

Images Show Location

Images Show Location (and change)

The computer-generated image shows our galaxy, the Milky Way, based on millions of new observations by a NASA orbiting space telescope.

It is shown as it would appear to an imaginary observer - from a vantage

point of trillions of miles.

Images Show Location (supported by words)

Images localize information

Images Aid in Memorizing

Images Show Detail

Images can support or replace words

We must link words and images

“Split Attention Effect”Mental integration is cognitively taxing.

We must link words and images

Create images that support words

Link Words and Images

Icons = Visual Representation

Our Choices:

Images

Animation

Icons can present challenges

Icons often present challenges

Without words, icons are often inadequate.

Arbitrary Meanings change

(telephone, swastika)

Not clear Difficult to remember and learn

Challenges with Icons

Our Choices:

Images

Animation

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graphs

Tables Graphs Charts MapsQuality Preciseness Quantitative

Patterns

Relationships Spatial & Directional

Example Spreadsheet Histogram Venn Diagram Demographic Map

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charts

Type of Information Graphics

Reasons for Using Information Graphics

Provide emphasis

Display abstract concepts

Compare large amounts of data

Depict relationships

Condense information in a meaningful way

Uses of Information Graphics

Planning Analyzing Monitoring Communicating

Information graphics easily enable the transfer of information from one field of study to another.

Bar graph

Graphs show quantitative patterns and comparisons

Types of Information GraphicsTypes of Information Graphics

GraphsGraphs

Lines are one of the most versatile building blocks of information graphics

Use line graphs to chart amount and change

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Line graphs

GraphsGraphs

Use scatter graphs to show relationships and concentrations of data

Scatter graphs (dot graphs)

GraphsGraphs

display quantitative relationships between two or more groups of information

help people answer questions such as: how many, how much translate numbers into pictures

Graphs in general

GraphsGraphs

Build Graphs so people can: Retrieve large amounts of information

See overall patterns of data

See deviations, trend and relationships

Compare information

See anomalies in data

Rapidly absorb the essence of the information

Leave meetings sooner

GraphsGraphs

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Pie chart

Captures snapshot Displays relationships on a coordinate

system Compares a component to the whole

ChartsCharts

Build Charts so people can: Measure area

• CAUTION: research shows that people can judge position or length (bar graph) than they can measure area.

Compare one segment to the whole

See percentage as it relates to 100%• CAUTION: use “reference angle” at 12 o’clock to help

users see the percentages better

ChartsCharts

Display relationships without being plotted on a coordinate system

Compare a component to the whole

Use charts to:

ChartsCharts

Tables Graphs Charts MapsQuality Preciseness Quantitative

Patterns

Relationships Spatial & Directional

Example Spreadsheet Histogram Venn Diagram Demographic Map

Tables compare large amounts of data in a small place

TablesTables

Present data best when user wants to know exact amounts

Example: Tax table… helps people identify specific amount of money they owe on taxes.

Present data more compactly than paragraphs

Assist the user making comparisons and seeing relationships

Support expert audiences

TablesTables

Build Tables so people can: Compare large amounts of data

Find exact amounts.• Example: Tax table… helps people identify

specific amount of money they owe on taxes.

Compare information

See relationships

Search through large amounts of data

TablesTables

Show navigation through space

Show location --

MapsMaps

Show information visually in relationship to its physical (spatial) location.

MapsMaps

Build maps so people can: see spatial and directional

relationships make a rapid comparison of

individual values see overall quantitative values locate places and things

MapsMaps

Tool: Chart Chooser

www.chartchooser..juiceanalytics.com

What we can tell others:

We do not have to depend on paragraphs as our only route for displaying content

Time Chunk #3:Use Visuals to Help People Comprehend

When you present data visually, you help people:

Assimilate huge amounts of data See emerging trends in data See relationships easily Highlight problems in data

Use Visuals to Help People

Assimilate huge amounts of data

Source: Tufte, Quantitative Displayof Visual Information

Use visuals to help people See emerging trends in data

Use visuals to help people See relationships easily

Use visuals to help people Highlight problems in data

Time Chunk #4:Help People Take Action

Help people take action

"If the visual task is contrast, comparison, and choice--as so often it is-- then the more relevant information within eye-span, the better."

E. Tufte, Envisioning Information, 1990

Help people take action “We thrive in information-thick worlds because of our

marvelous and everyday capacities to select, edit, single out, structure, highlight, group, pair, harmonize, synthesize, focus, organize, condense, reduce, boil down, choose, categorize, catalog, classify, list, abstract, scan, isolate, discriminate, distinguish, screen, sort, integrate, blend, inspect, filter, lump, skip, smooth, chunk, average, approximate, cluster, aggregate, outline, summarize, itemize, review, dip into, flip through, browse, glance into, leaf through, skim, refine, enumerate, glean synopsize, winnow the wheat from the chaff and separate the sheep from the goats.”

E. Tufte, Envisioning Information, 1990

Help people take action by:

Showing comparison Presenting alternatives Relating parts to the whole Providing enough data for

decision making

Help people take action Showing Comparison

Place items side-by-side Help people see difference Use shapes, tables, images Show or tell how things are similar or

different

Comparison

Place items side-by-side Help people see

difference Use shapes, tables,

images Show or tell how things

are similar or different

Comparison Place items side-by-side Help people see difference Use shapes, tables, images Show or tell how things are

similar or different

Comparison

Help people take action Showing Quantitative Comparison

Compare by showing rank of items• As in a bar chart

Compare changes over time• Use line graphs or filled area graphs

Compare patterns of relationships between two or more variables

• Use a scatter graph

decision making

Help people envision alternatives

Alternatives:

Small multiples reveal a scope of alternatives

Alternatives:

Bar graph data can be presented in small multiples

Alternatives:You can portray changes over time within one graphic, rather than presenting each graphic individually.

Alternatives:Use layering to provide different levels of visual detail

Layering: two elements work together and achieve new meaning

Merits of Layering Layering can show different layers of detail Layers can help us see contradictions Layers help us “multitask” information retrieval Layers can decrease our memory load

“Layering” of information

supports users

Cautions about Layering

Because layers add to our “gestalt” observation of the page, we must be careful... surplus visual activity = clutter

For example: Avoid surrounding words by boxes

decision making

Help people relate detail to the whole

Detail slows and personifies the pace of visualization.

Advantages (according to Tufte) -High density designs allow viewers to

select, narrate, recast, and personalize data for their own uses.

-Thus, the control of information is given over to USERS (not to editors, designers, or developers).

Help users relate parts to the whole

Use visual relationships and placement to help people compress facts Provide categories or structured order Provide callouts

Use location views to offer the viewer freedom of choice to assess, compare, and sort through detail. Use panoramic and vista views to show

how parts relate to the whole

Use color to show categorical breakdown

Show relationship of parts to the whole: callouts

Location (Panorama) View

Location (Vista) View

Location: visually compressing facts

decision making

Use visuals to help people Make informed decisions

Note: Nutrition Facts is considered an excellent “image” because it provides a consistent pattern for labeling.

Make Informed Decisions

Use visuals to help people Make informed decisions

Note: UMD’s Human Computer Interface Lab will explain new “lifelines” research at a symposium May 30, 2008

Time Chunk #5:Use Text and Visualsto Tell a Story

Help people visualize: Ask “what is the story”

What we do when we tell stories

We convert knowledge Specifically, we convert

Tacit knowledge (that which is known internally)

Explicit knowledge (that which can become known by others)

Visual “stories”

Show what something is (different points of view)

Show what’s inside Show where something is Show when something happens Show how something works Show motion

Map Your Story

One strategy for envisioning a story is to envision events that happen in sequence

We can easily “map” that sequence by drawing a line showing “beginning” “middle”

and “end” Incorporating a curve to show “tension” in the

story (rising curve leads to story climax) Charting the story event-to-event using a

circular framework

Final Thoughts

Showing complexity is hard work.– Edward Tufte

Apply Knowledge

Exercise: What lessons from today’s presentation

can support you in changing/improving the example you brought to class?

Attend to Your Words & Images: You can help your readers

We can structure information

so people can find it and use it

(and appreciate the experience)

info.design © 2008 email: thom@thomhaller.com national academies communicating complex...

present words

complex information

meaningful dataif information

representations of information

information graphicsoverviewif

images defineimages

time chunk

meaningful datawords

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