Aesthetics for Efficient Data Visualization
Have you ever been stuck in presenting more than 2 variables with a 2-D screen or struggled how to effectively present your findings to support business decision in front of the board? What if I told you that you can make a compelling visualization and deliver clear message by using aesthetics. Here are the 6 main elements in order: Position, Length, Shape, Size and Color.
Humans are very sensitive to position. If you have two points on a chart or a map or even a blank paper, you can easily see right into it. Also for length, shape and size, we can capture the differences easily if not over-do it e.g. 6 shapes in one time. While color is something tricky, especially when using green and red, it is extremely difficult for color-blind people. But in general, we are good to tell differences in color. In fact, some of these elements have been used for many years. I recently visited The Hague Public Transport Museum (Het Haags Openbaar Vervoer Museum, “HOVM”). Looking at these old tram tickets (“Strippenkaart” in Dutch) and stamps (“Stempel” in Dutch), guess how many unique information was presented?
5!!! 5 unique categories of information were presented in a small block, with ONLY 1 single colour: 1. Area zone that passenger get in the tram; 2. Week of the year; 3. Day of the week; 4. Time of the trip; 5. Unique number of the stamp like stamp ID. See below (Figure 1) ...
Figure 1. Tram Tickets and Stamps used in the old days (Strippenkaart en Stempel)
I am impressed with the design as it effectively used “Position”, “Length”, and “Size” to present various categories! Not only this, look at some other signs used in 19 centuries (Figure 2), “Size” and “Color ” were obviously taken into account by the designer as aesthetic factors for effective visualization.
Figure 2. Signs used in the old days
What is data science used for? DECISION MAKING!! So, to present valuable insights from big data, an effective visualization is essential! Have you found some other great examples in our daily life? Let me know. Keep being inspired!
Of course, I highly recommend The Hague Public Transport Museum (Het Haags Openbaar Vervoer Museum, #HOVM, https://www.hovm.nl/nieuw/) especially if you are interested in experiencing historical trams (Figure 3) or you like me studied in #TUDelft with great memories with TRAM 1 !!
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