Description: The hype around Web 2.0 continues to increase to the point of absurdity. What can we learn from these trends to actually apply to our designs? Take a tour through the web’s past, present, and future to answer these questions and more:
What can we learn from the rich history of data visualization to inform our designs today?
How can we do amazing work while battle the constant constraints we find ourselves up against?
How do we really incorporate users into our practice of user experience?
We control what happens on screen, we have the tools for participation.
Data: Tremendous amount of data.
Designing with data: Add meta data to data and it starts to make sense. By adding some design you can make it easier to follow or you can tell a story with the data by highlighting certain data.
P.S. This guy designed Google Analytics.
You can design too much. It's easy to make a chart look so good it doesn't make sense anymore.
Early examples of designing data: Malaria breakout in England charted on streets to track it to one water pump. The chart of Napoleon's troops going into and out of Moscow. The chart shows Napoleon lose 23,000 troops when he crosses a river.
What you leave out is sometimes more important than what you put in.
Don't make people think. Eliminate "chart junk".
Use different ways to display data, not just charts. Make it real. Sky scraper sized stacks of pennies in circulation.
Make the data mean something to them.
Users can interact with data it doesn't have to be static charts.
Different ways of visualization for the same data. Let people choose which will work for them.
Let people find their own stories.
The other part of this is the participation, putting people in control.
You have to understand the needs of your audience.
What is the user trying to get done? You have to help them solve their problems. What are their needs? Talk to them.
Design as a team, sticky notes on the wall. Visualize.
Conclusion: Always look for inspiration.
End
Matt
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