Aesthetics

Andreas, Andrew, Enrico, Helen, Jack, Jason, Michael, Sheelagh,

Stephan, Tim

What is Truth?

What is Beauty?

What is Art?

What is Aesthetics?

Do we need them?

Can Aesthetics be taught?

• Teaching ‘Visual Literacy”– The great and the good– The process of critique– Creation

• Early stages– Blank paper, data set, crayons– Sketches

Is Aesthetic Design “Truth” or “Fashion”?

• Aesthetic styles change with technology

• “Electronic fruit salad”– Dancing bear (because we can)– Copy cat (because we have to)– Choice (because we want to)

• … there will always be new technology

What is “aesthetics”?

• Visual style– product– process (?)

• Beauty (castle) vs function (new building)

• Each is both beautiful and functional

Is there beauty in good functionality?

“function” vs “aesthetic”

• Is “functional” always “minimalist”?• Grabbing attention vs minimalist display

• Aesthetic choices (“Multiple aesthetics”)– Many aesthetics applied to one story: one has to be

chosen– Resulting in different emphases

Aesthetic design is when “beauty augments the function”

How to please domain experts?

• Aesthetic design needs to take into account any conventions of the domain (eg: colour coding for biologists)

• Analysts like a beautiful aesthetic design, but this may be at the expense of functionality

“How to deal with the sense of awe and wonder of domain analysts at a visualization that is

functionally sub-optimal?”

How can we recognise ‘good’ aesthetic choice in IV?

• Description of process of aesthetic choice– explain the design process, with evaluation of

interim alternatives– formalise the design process:

• Ethnographic observations• Auto-ethnographic reports

Models of aesthetics

• Beauty, engagement without risk, story telling

• Form, function, interestingness, intriguing

• Functional, compelling, intriguing, beautiful

Aesthetics vs Mnemonics?

• Chart Junk (“Useful Junk”, Bateman et al.)– Better memory (more engagement)– Similar accuracy

• How much Chart Junk is useful?

• Do you need mnemonic cues in the Visualisation, so as to improve memory?

• Is it better if the representation includes depiction of the context?

Data Art vs Information Visualisation

• Data Art: Art based on data – obviously subjective

• Does ‘Data Art’ give IV a bad name?• Or does it help in emphasizing the subjective

nature of all data presentation?

What we publish shows the world what we care about. If this is artistic, but not necessarily useful or accurate, the conclusion will be that we value

beauty over truth and function

What is Truth?

• All data is treated subjectively: choices are made• A data visualisation may look objective to the

reader: this is misleading• Even ‘clean’ IV is a result of subjective choice• Adding obvious uncertainty (in the form of visual

style) reduces the extent to which the data is seen as ‘true’

• Can people recognise the difference between the beauty and the truth of the data?

What is Truth?

What is Beauty?

What is Art?

What is Aesthetics?

Do we need them?