20/30 CATS

Module Outline

The Advanced Visualisation Design Labs module develops students’ independence in visualisation design, development, analysis and critique, through the development of three visualisation projects which further advance students’ portfolio of work. Each project will focus on a visualisation challenge drawn from methodological, societal, scientific and policy topics, with at least one of the challenges driven by a real-world problem proposed by an external partner. Students will develop their response to a project brief through hands-on workshops that enable students to learn-by-doing, and allow students to expand their design and technical skills in dialogue with their methodological and critical understanding. Master classes will expand student's methodological and technical repertoire in areas such as human-centred design, typography, storytelling, stencilling, and digital cartography. Students will examine their designs as prototypes and probes, and reflect on designing as a means to create, but also as a means to apply and interrogate theory, knowledge and methods. In combination with the curation of their portfolios, students will develop their own design manifesto which puts their methodological and aesthetic approaches, and final outcomes, in relation with design norms and ethics, and visual cultures and style.

Module Convenor

Dr Timothy Monteath

Assessment

For 20 CATS

• 30% Design Manifesto, 1,200 words;
• 70% Portfolio, 1,000 words.

For 30 CATS

• 20% Design Manifesto, 1,200 words;
• 80% Portfolio, 1,500 words.

Indicative Syllabus

Week 1 - Introduction to Challenge I, Mini Lecture, Discussion & Design Lab

Week 2 - Master Class & Design Lab

Week 3 - Peer Feedback and Design Lab

Week 4 - Introduction to Challenge II, Mini Lecture, Discussion & Design Lab

Week 5 - Master Class & Design Lab

Week 6 - Peer Feedback and Design Lab

Week 7 - Introduction to Challenge III, Mini Lecture, Discussion & Design Lab

Week 8 - Master Class & Design Lab

Week 9 - Peer Feedback and Design Lab

Week 10 - Portfolio & Design Manifesto Presentations

Indicative Reading List

Bertin, J. (2010). Semiology of Graphics: Diagrams, Networks, Maps. Esri Press.

Bigelow, A. Drucker, S. Fisher, D. & Meyer, M. (2014) Reactions on how designers design with data. Proceedings of AVI., 17–24. ACM 2014.

Brinton, WC. (1939). Graphical Presentation. The Engineering Magazine Co., New York.

Drucker, J. (2020). Visualization and Interpretation: Humanistic Approaches to Display. MIT Press.

Flusser, V. (2013) Toward a Philosophy of Photography. Reaktion Books.

Kimbell, L. (2011). Rethinking Design Thinking: Part I. Design and Culture. (3:3), 285-306.

Kimbell, L. (2012). Rethinking Design Thinking: Part II. Design and Culture. (4:2), 29-148

Lim, Y. Stolterman, E. & Tenenberg, J. (2008) The anatomy of prototypes: Prototypes as filters, prototypes as manifestations of design ideas. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 15(2), 1-27.

Meirelles, I. (2014). Design for Information - An Introduction to the Histories, Theories, and Best Practices Behind Effective Information Visualizations. Rockport.

Meyer, M. Dykes, J. (2020). Criteria for Rigor in Visualization Design Study. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (Proceedings of InfoVis 2019), 26(1), 2020.

Offenhuber, D. (2020). Data by Proxy — Material Traces as Autographic Visualizations. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 98-108, doi: 10.1109/TVCG.2019.2934788.

Reas, C. and McWilliams, C. (2010). Form+Code in Design, Art, and Architecture. Princeton Architectural Press.

Rogers, J., Patton, A.H. Harmon, L., Lex, A. and Meyer, M., 2020. Insights From Experiments With Rigor in an EvoBio Design Study. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

Sedlmair, M. Meyer, M. & Munzner, T. (2012) Design Study Methodology: Reflections from the Trenches and the Stacks. IEEE Trans. Visualization and Computer Graphics (Proc. InfoVis), 18(12), 2431-2440.

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate an understanding of visualisation practices in terms of ethics, aesthetics, methods and contemporary debates.

• Demonstrate an ability to critically analyse visualisation practices in terms of theory, methods, materials and technologies.

• Explain visualisation as an interdisciplinary subject.

• Evaluate own practice within the interdisciplinarity of visualisation.

• Create visualisations through code and other materials.

• Demonstrate an ability to research and develop projects from an initial brief.

• Evaluate visualisations and prototypes in terms of users/audiences, and tasks/affordances.

• Understand and demonstrate the core skills required to create effective visualisations.

• Demonstrate an appreciation of prototypes and design processes in developing visualisations.

• Demonstrate a critical approach to visualisation that introduces concepts and theory within methodological approaches and development of techniques.