Information Design Lab

The digital presence of Information Design Lab, IDC, IIT Bombay

ID 413 - Information Graphics and Data Visualization

Instructor: Prof. Venkatesh Rajamanickam

Timings: Wednesdays and Fridays 11 am to 12.30 pm (IC 3 - SOM Building).

Office Hours: To set up appointments, contact Jake Abraham.

Course Overview

Information graphics reveal the hidden, explain the complex and illuminate the obscure. Constructing visual representation of information is not mere translation of what can be read to what can be seen. It entails filtering the information, establishing relationships, discerning patterns and representing them in a manner that enables a consumer of that information construct meaningful knowledge.

Recent advances in technology have enabled us with means for creating, recording and analysing incredible amounts of data. Where once data was scarce, it is now available in abundance. The field of Computer Science has made great strides in creating capabilities for data handling and analysis. However the techniques required to most effectively display and communicate data are somewhat neglected. This design course aims to fill the gap by teaching techniques for creating effective visualizations based on principles from graphic design, visual art, perceptual psychology, and cognitive science.

Course Objectives

This course will provide students with the foundations necessary for understanding and extending the current state of the art in data visualization. By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Course Contents

This course will provide students with the foundations necessary for understanding and extending the current state of the art in data visualization. By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Schedule

WeekContentAssignmentAdditional Readings/Resources
Week 01 Lecture 1: Introduction to Data Visualization Assignment 1: Visualization Critique A Tour through the Visualization Zoo. Jeffrey Heer, Michael Bostock, Vadim Ogievetsky. Communications of the ACM, 53(6), pp. 59-67, Jun 2010.
The Value of Information Visualization. Jarke van Wijk. Proceedings of the IEEE Visualization Conference, pp. 79-86, 2005.
Week 02 Lecture 2: Visualization Typology Assignment 2: Chart Deconstruction & Redesign Visualization Typology proposed by Scott Berinato.
From Viz to Data.
A periodic table of visualization methods.
Week 03 Review of Assignment 1
Week 04 Introduction to Figma (Basics in Figma). Assignment 3: Comparative Visualizations Brief introduction to Figma.
Basic Figma tutorial.
Figma Masterclass.
Week 05 Lecture 3: Data
Review of Assignment 2 		On the Theory of Scales of Measurement. S. S. Stevens. Science New Series, Vol. 103, No. 2684, pp. 677-680. Jun 1946.
Reflections on how designers design with data. Alex Bigelow, Steven Druckery, Danyel Fishery, Miriah Meyer. AVI '14 Proceedings of the 2014 International Working Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces, pp. 17-24.
The eyes have it: a task by data type taxonomy for information visualizations.
Week 06 Lecture 4: Data Abstraction
Review of Assignment 2
Lecture 5: Task Abstraction 		Assignment 4: Visualizing Burtin’s Antibiotic Data Visualization Analysis and Design By Tamara Munzner.
Her lecture video of Data Abstraction chapter.
Her lecture video of Task Abstraction chapter.
Week 07 Review of Assignment 3 and Design Clinic
Week 08 Term Break
Week 09 Lecture 6: Geo Visualization Assignment 5: Schematic Hometown Map
Week 10
Week 11

Links to slides will be added after the respective lecture

Assessment

For this course, you will be assessed as follows:

Textbook

There is no recommended text for the course. All lecture slides will be made available as PDFs after the lectures for your reference. However lecture slides alone won’t be sufficient to prepare for the end semester exam. So keep a notebook and take notes.

Reference Books

  1. Bertin, Jacques (1967). Semiology of Graphics: Diagrams, Networks, Maps. Esri Press.
  2. Cairo, Alberto (2013). The Functional Art. New Riders
  3. Few, Stephen (2012). Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten. Analytics Press.
  4. Fry, Ben (2012). Visualizing Data: Exploring and Explaining Data with the Processing Environment. O'Reilly Media.
  5. Harmon, Katherine (2003). You Are Here. Princeton Architectural Press.
  6. Harris, Robert L. (2000). Information Graphics: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference. Oxford University Press.
  7. Helfand, Jessica (2002). Reinventing the Wheel. Princeton Architectural Press.
  8. Holmes, Nigel (1991). Designer's Guide to Creating Charts and Diagrams. Watson-Guptill.
  9. Holmes, Nigel (2005). Wordless Diagrams. Bloomsbury.
  10. Institute for Information Design Japan (2005). Information Design Source Book. Graphics-Sha.
  11. Jacobson, Robert (2000). Information Design. The MIT Press.
  12. McCloud, Scott (1994). McCloud, Scott (1994). Understanding Comics Understanding Comics. Harper . Harper.
  13. Mijksenaar, Paul and Westendorp, Piet. Open Here: The Art of Instructional Design.
  14. Mijksenaar, Paul (1997). Visual Function: An Introduction to Information Design. Princeton Architectural Press.
  15. Myer, Eric. K. (1997). Designing Infographics. Hayden Books.
  16. Tufte, Edward (1990). Envisioning Information. Graphics Press.
  17. Tufte, Edward (1997). Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative. Graphics Press.
  18. Tufte, Edward (2001). The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Graphics Press.
  19. Ware, Colin (2012). Information Visualization, Third Edition: Perception for Design. Morgan Kaufmann.
  20. Yau, Nathan (2011). Visualize This: The FlowingData Guide to Design, Visualization, and Statistics. Wiley.
  21. Yau, Nathan (2013). Data Points: Visualization That Means Something. Wiley.

Contact

You can reach Prof. Venkatesh Rajamanickam via email