Data vis thinking

Anita Lillie

September 24, 2015

Who am I?

  • Previously: Exploratorium, Practice Fusion, LinkedIn, Nokia, MIT Media Lab, Stanford
  • Music, social networks, genetics, healthcare
  • Now: Data/UX Lead at Vida Health

I design and develop data interfaces.

How to think about data stories

Where I find inspiration...

The bulk aisle

Wear on doors

Footsteps after a puddle

Tennis

Tans.

Carnegie Mellon fence

Carnegie Mellon fence

Carnegie Mellon fence

Evidence of something interacting with something else

...leaving its mark.

All of these examples are

Why physical metaphors?

  • Human cognition is built for these physical things.  We see these kinds of patterns easily.
  • Thinking in this way helps you choose visual mappings that make sense.
  • Making something mimic the real world gives it meaning.

Practice

backwards-engineering naturally-occurring visualizations.

  • You will ask the right questions.
  • You will come up with better data stories.
  • You will tell them in a more intuitive way.

@anitalillie

anitalillie@gmail.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/alillie/

Data

Visualization

Design

Data

Visualization

Design

Data

  • What data do you have?
  • Can you get more?
  • Where is it broken?  Missing?

Data...

  • How capable is your user with data?
  • How about statistics?
  • How deep to go?

for your users.

Your story

  • What does your data say?
  • Test with REAL data EARLY.

Visualization

What visuals make sense for your data?

Do you need a visualization?

Privacy

  • Showing too little data
  • Adapting to different volumes of data

Iteration

...usually happens in code.

Can your designers write code?

@anitalillie

anitalillie@gmail.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/alillie/

Made with Slides.com