How to design better data visualisations by Graham Odds.
From the post:
Over the last couple of centuries, data visualisation has developed to the point where it is in everyday use across all walks of life. Many recognise it as an effective tool for both storytelling and analysis, overcoming most language and educational barriers. But why is this? How are abstract shapes and colours often able to communicate large amounts of data more effectively than a table of numbers or paragraphs of text? An understanding of human perception will not only answer this question, but will also provide clear guidance and tools for improving the design of your own visualisations.
In order to understand how we are able to interpret data visualisations so effectively, we must start by examining the basics of how we perceive and process information, in particular visual information.
Graham pushes all of my buttons by covering:
- System 1 vs System 2, Daniel Kahnemann, in Thinking, Fast and Slow…
- Why visualisation? [sense bandwidth]
- How we see [iconic memory]
- Pre-attentive attributes are the way forward [Jacques Bertin, Semiologie Graphique]
- Perceiving values [Stephen Few]
- Perceiving relationships [Gestalt school of psychology]
A reading list from this post would take months to read and years to fully digest.
No time like the present!