The Mind's Eye

how we perceive data

Graham Odds

@g_odds

First, a story...

from Graphic Discovery – A Trout in the Milk and Other Visual Adventures by Howard Wainer

John Arbuthnot

John Arbuthnot (1667–1735)

Christenings in London, 1629 - 1710

Year Male Female
1629 5218 4683
1630 4858 4457
1631 4422 4102
1632 4994 4590
1633 5158 4839
1634 5035 4820
1635 5106 4928
1636 4917 4605
1637 4703 4457
1638 5359 4952
1639 5366 4784
1640 5518 5332
1641 5470 5200
1642 5460 4910
1643 4793 4617
1644 4107 3997
1645 4047 3919
1646 3768 3395
1647 3796 3536
1648 3363 3181
1649 3079 2746
Year Male Female
1650 2890 2722
1651 3231 2840
1652 3220 2908
1653 3196 2959
1654 3441 3179
1655 3655 3349
1656 3668 3382
1657 3396 3289
1658 3157 3013
1659 3209 2781
1660 3724 3247
1661 4748 4107
1662 5216 4823
1663 5411 4881
1664 6041 5681
1665 5114 4858
1666 4678 4319
1667 5616 5322
1668 6073 5560
1669 6506 5829
1670 6278 5719
Year Male Female
1671 6449 6061
1672 6443 6120
1673 6073 5822
1674 6113 5738
1675 6058 5717
1676 6552 5847
1677 6423 6203
1678 6568 6033
1679 6247 6041
1680 6548 6299
1681 6822 6533
1682 6909 6744
1683 7577 7158
1684 7575 7127
1685 7484 7246
1686 7575 7119
1687 7737 7214
1688 7487 7101
1689 7601 7167
1690 7909 7302
1691 7662 7392
Year Male Female
1692 7602 7316
1693 7676 7483
1694 6985 6647
1695 7263 6713
1696 7632 7229
1697 8062 7767
1698 8426 7626
1699 7911 7452
1700 7578 7061
1701 8102 7514
1702 8031 7656
1703 7765 7693
1704 6113 5738
1705 8366 7779
1706 7952 7417
1707 8379 7687
1708 8239 7623
1709 7840 7380
1710 7640 7288

Christenings in London, 1629 - 1710

8000 6000 4000 2000 1630 1640 1650 1660 1670 1680 1690 1700 1710
Smallpox epidemic(Queen Mary dies) The Great Fireof 1666 Plague outbreaks The Great Plagueof 1665 End of Englishcivil war(Charles I killed) Beginning of English civil war
?

Data visualisation is the use of visual representations to explore, make sense of, and communicate data.

- Stephen Few

What I am going to talk about (and for how long)

angry

17 x 24 = ?

VS System 1 System 2
VS System 1 System 2
1250 MB/s same bandwidth as a: computer network USB key 125 MB/s hard-disk 12.5 MB/s

Low Resolution by David McCandless

Total Bandwidth (millions of bits per second) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

based on visualisation by Stephen Few

Conscious Bandwidth (bits per second) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
iconicmemory

Features

Patterns

visual workingmemory

Objects

DOG loyal pet friendly furry
Barney purple dinosaur
long-termmemory
bottom-upprocessing top-downprocessing

based on graphic from The Functional Art by Alberto Cairo

System 1

System 2

pre-attentive attributes

9873497902756579028947286330925060370860570279072

8032080295573025012702370250127023716274082078720

2478026027037937757091707375970667562097091702780

9279797097230972309895927509251279798734972608027

9873497902756579028947286330925060370860570279072

8032080295573025012702370250127023716274082078720

2478026027037937757091707375970667562097091702780

9279797097230972309895927509251279798734972608027

Values

Relationships

Colour Position Form Hue Intensity 2D location Orientation Line length Line width Size Shape Curvature Added marks Enclosure

based on graphic from Now You See It by Stephen Few

2D position along common, aligned scale 2D position along common, but unaligned scales Length Slope Angle Area Volume Colour intensity Colour hue Allows moreaccurate judgments Allows moregeneric judgements

based on graphic from The Functional Art by Alberto Cairo

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Gestalt Principles

Similarity

Proximity

Enclosure

Connection

RickardStark BrandonStark CatelynTully EddardStark “Wylla” LyannaStark BenjenStark RobbStark SansaStark AryaStark BranStark RickonStark JonSnow

1 2 3 4 ...

7,000 mi. 7,000 mi. 6,000 mi. 5,000 mi. $2.00 $2.50 $2.50 $2.00 $1.50 $3.00 Miles driven per capita each year 8,000 mi. 9,000 mi. 8,000 mi. 9,000 mi. Price ofa gallonof gasoline Cheap gas,longer commutes The Araboil embargo The swing backward Energy Crisis Record low prices Driving Shifts Into Reverseby Hannah Fairfield 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Feb 2010

Thank You!

Graham Odds

@g_odds

http://godds.github.io/the-minds-eye/
http://www.creativebloq.com/design/science-behind-data-visualisation-8135496