The best-kept secret about information visualisation
I had the opportunity to attend a workshop in Covent Garden titled "Workshops are Beautiful" by David McCandless. The workshop focused on transforming complex data and information into visually appealing graphics that can be understood by everyone, including clients, design teams, and users. My manager sent me and two colleagues, and I must say, it was the most insightful and beneficial workshop I have ever attended.
David McCandless and Ryan Thomas
David taught me as a UX Designer that before presenting my research findings visually, it's important to first understand the purpose of my work and the story I want to tell. This is the key to creating a successful visualization that bridges the gap between information and design. Additionally, I learned that there are many innovative approaches to presenting and interpreting information.
During a workshop, David shared an example of how billions of dollars look on a graph. He used research from multiple news reports in 2009 to demonstrate how America's 308 billion yearly contribution to charity is comparable to the foreign aid provided by top industrialized nations, which amounts to 120 billion. The graph was designed in a way that makes it easy to see the connections and patterns through size and colour. David also showed how this looked from the UK's perspective, which I could relate to more. He highlighted that the UK's budget for the 175 billion deficit was more than the income tax earnings of 152 billion. This gave me better insight into how taxpayers' money is being spent. I was shocked to learn that the cost of the UK bank bailout in 2009 was 289 billion, while policing was only 8 billion. This could explain the high rising violence in the UK to date. However, I need to check the authenticity of this information with my own in-depth research.
“People ignore designs that ignore people”
WHO’S SUING WHOM IN TELECOMS TRADE?
There were many slides, but another that stood out to me was about Telecoms, because I just loved the simplicity of it and how one could understand what was going on straight away. The size of the blocks corresponds to the amount of revenue that each company makes per year, the red blocks show companies that are losing money and the black blocks have an increase in revenue per year.
During his talk, David discussed how eye language involves colour, shapes, and patterns, while the language of the mind involves numbers, ideas, and concepts that work together to help us understand information more easily. Infographics are designed to serve this purpose. As an example, David removed all the text from the red and black blocks and showed how eye language alone can raise a multitude of questions. For instance, do the largest blocks indicate the biggest companies or the highest profits? Is there a correlation between an increase in legal action to resolve disputes and a decrease in revenue? Or does the size of a company affect the likelihood of a lawsuit?
“Look at usual things with unusual eyes.”
After going through multiple instances of how data and information can be exhibited visually, he challenged the audience to highlight various ways they could create visual patterns. Some examples were:
The weight of the text
Italic and bold text
Different fonts
Underlined text
Size
He typed up a massive list of design pattern examples on a new slide, which was only about one-fifth of what he had. As a designer, I found these patterns to be obvious, but it was still refreshing to see them displayed and validated my knowledge of the subject. These patterns work well because they allow for simple yet effective variations in your design. For instance, most people recognize underlined text as a hyperlink, which eliminates the need to include long URLs in your posts. This reduces cognitive load, enhances aesthetic appeal, and improves usability.
BOTTOM UPS, TOPS DOWN
An example of the bottom-up process
During an exercise, we were tasked with creating a visualisation using a specific method. Unfortunately, my attempt was not up to par and I have no intention of revisiting it. The metrics used included ease of use measured by range and popularity measured by numerics, among others. I found this process much simpler than the alternative, which was the top-down approach. The top-down approach required deciding on the type of map to use for the data first, which was the opposite of the bottom-up approach. Although some were successful using this method, I found it to be time-consuming and unnecessary to achieve my end goal.
THE LIGHTBULB MOMENT
Research conducted by 3M Visual Systems Division has shown that using visual aids can enhance learning by up to 400%. Furthermore, our brains process visuals 60,000 times faster than text, and we tend to retain only about one-fifth of what we hear. This might explain why I tend to doze off during dull presentations that are filled with bullet-pointed text and the speaker droning on.
“Design transcends agenda. It speaks to the politics of optimism.”
David McCandless's "Information is Beautiful" presents over 200 pages of visually represented researched information. During the workshop, he did not cover the entire book, but the insights gained were invaluable in finding new ways to communicate complex information to a wider audience, including clients. As a researcher, my usual deliverables include personas, user journeys, and reports. However, understanding the data behind my research will help me create more aesthetically pleasing, efficient, and comprehensive deliverables for clients while validating my design choices. There is no set rule for transforming data into understandable content - the key is making it digestible and straightforward. Even though David had no creative background, he was able to improve his skills by simplifying his findings through practice.
“Design is thinking made visual.”
It was evident how visual aids allow more engagement with your audience, and I would encourage anyone involved in public speaking to put this into practice if they hope to be successful in whatever it is they are trying to deliver.