ASSIGNMENT - 1 / Due date January, 21:

  1. Watch: What are Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) & how are they special? (5 min watch time)

  2. Watch & Learn the basics of Illustrator (26 min watch time)

    If you feel comfortable using Illustrator or any other similar vector-based app/software similar software, you can skip this.

WEEKLY READING - Due date January, 21:

  1. Nathan Yau, Data Points: Visualization That Means Something Page: 43-68

ASSIGNMENT - 2 / Due date January 28

1.In this assignment, you will design data visualization options for a simple data set.

Your tasks:

  1. Download the data set.

  2. Pick a question that your visualizations will answer.

  3. Decide who will be your audience or what is the purpose of your visualization.

  4. Provide 2 different design options. Do not use any data visualization tools. You can either create hand-sketches or use an application such as Illustrator or Figma.

  5. Write a short paragraph of 4-5 sentences including the question, audience, and purpose.

  6. Create a single PDF that has two design sketches and a short paragraph and post it to our Slack channel.

2. Sign-up for a Miro account and get familiar with the tool. miro.com

WEEKLY READING / Due date January 28

  1. Design and Redesign, Fernanda Viégas & Martin Wattenberg

  2. Excerpts from The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte. Pages: 22 (Graphical Integrity) - 30 (End of Data-Ink)

ASSIGNMENT - 3 / DUE: FEBRUARY 4 (to be completed before the class time)

  1. Create a shared google doc as a group. From now on, you will use this doc to document your group project. Use this template to create the file.

  2. As a group, finish your brainstorming board. Add your brainstorming board to your google doc.

  3. Schedule a meeting with your mentor (30 min max) as a group. Always include Nil and Sandy in your communication with your mentor. Make sure that you are well-prepared to ask your questions and present your ideas.

  4. Re-designing assignment: (Individual assignment and will be posted on Slack as PDF)

    1. Review and critique this visualization.

    2. Create three re-design options. You can use any tool of your preference. (hand sketch, Figma, Tableau, etc). Create a single PDF that has three design sketches and a short paragraph explaining what you improved and post it to our Slack channel.

WEEKLY READING / DUE: FEBRUARY 4

  1. Segel & Heer, Narrative Visualization: Telling Stories with Data

  2. Storytelling by Illa Blinderman, Pudding.cool

ASSIGNMENT - 4 / DUE: FEBRUARY 11 (Complete before class time)

  1. In the class, you learned that there are designer-driven and reader-driven approaches to narrative visualization. Moreover, you can build your story using different methods such as Martini Glass, Interactive Slideshow, and Drill-down.

    Find 5 projects that use different design approaches and story-building methods. You do not need to find a project for each method but try to find as different projects as possible. Create a single PDF with the project info (such as URLs), project image, and information about design approaches and story-building method. Share your PDF on Slack.

    Some resources where you can find projects:

    1. informationisbeautifulawards.com

    2. visualisingdata.com (Andy Kirk)

    3. thefunctionalart.com (Alberto Cairo)

    4. New York Times, Reuters, Washington Post, etc. data visualization & visual graphics posts

    5. Data Visualization Society Slack datavizsociety.slack.com

  2. Course-long mentor projects: Update your shared Google Doc with any new information or design study. If you don’t know what to with your mentor projects, review this guide.

WEEKLY READING / DUE: FEBRUARY 11

Y. Wang et al., "An Emotional Response to the Value of Visualization," in IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 8-17, 1 Sept.-Oct. 2019

*Borkin M et al., “Beyond Memorability: Visualization Recognition and Recall” in EEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2015.

*For the second reading, there is a 30-second introduction video: vcg.seas.harvard.edu/publications/beyond-memorability-visualization-recognition-and-recall

ASSIGNMENT - 5 / DUE: FEBRUARY 18 (Complete before class time)

1. You will create a spatial story with Storymap JS. First, make sure to watch and review the tutorial. 

Your story should include at least four slides. You are required to use at least one data visualization as your media content. You should find the data and design a visualization using Tableau, Flourish, Datawrapper, or Kepler GL.

You are free to create your story content. Here is an idea if you get stuck;

  • Imagine a day in your favorite city. Tell us about four locations you would visit. For each location, include an image, data visualization, or a video.

Publish your story and share the link on Slack.

2. Review Mentor Project Guide.

3. Mentor projects: Update your shared Google Doc with any new information or design study.

WEEKLY READING / DUE: FEBRUARY 18

Data Beyond Vision, Rebecca Sutton Koeser, Gissoo Doroudian, Nick Budak, Xinyi Li

Macklin C et al., “DATAPLAY: Mapping Game Mechanics to Traditional Data Visualization”

ASSIGNMENT - 6 / DUE: FEBRUARY 25 (Complete before class time)

In this assignment, you will create a data visualization story using the provided data sets. In the next class (2/25), you will test your visualizations with your classmates. 


Tools you can use - Tableau, Flourish, and/or Kepler GL. 

Final Product - Tableau Dashboard, Flourish Story (interactive presentation feature), or series of URLs. Your story should include at least three different types of interactive data visualizations.

Data Visualizations: 

  1. Start with answering our usual questions: Who will be your audience? What is the question that your data visualization story will answer? 

  2. Use all visualization design and UX principles you have learned so far. Remember that you will test your visualizations with other people who will not know the dataset that you are visualizing. Make sure you include all necessary information such as titles, labels, ‘how to read’ guides, or any other visual clue.

Data: In the next class, you will pair up with one of your classmates to test your visualizations. To make the test results more reliable, you will work with different data sets. Use the data set that is assigned to your name. 

User Test: Watch the recorded lecture (to be uploaded by Tuesday 6 PM EST)

Data Set #1 - Stop-and-frisk in New York City between 2013 - 2016

(Abdulrahman, Alyson, Amwaj, Annan, Bridget, Dasha, Esther, Evan, Hailey, Jacqueline, Janvi)

If you don’t know Stop-and-frisk, read below Wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop-and-frisk_in_New_York_City#:~:text=The%20stop%2Dquestion%2Dand%2D,for%20weapons%20and%20other%20contraband.

If you need more data, use these resources:

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/stats/reports-analysis/stopfrisk.page

https://www.nyclu.org/en/stop-and-frisk-data


Data Set # 2 - Global Refugee Flows 1975 - 2018

(Laura, Leah, Mahima, Nidhi, Nishita, Sharon, Sherrie, Shuyu, Sohoon, Veda, Yiran, Andy)


You may need country codes and coordinate for merging: https://gist.github.com/tadast/8827699

If you need more data, use these resources:

https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/

https://www.therefugeeproject.org/

ASSIGNMENT - 7 / DUE: MARCH 25 (Complete before class time)

  1. Mentor projects platform selection: All 6 groups will be provided with either a Squarespace and Webflow subscription. As a group, review both platforms and let me know your preference by March 25 (we will dedicate last half hour of the class discussing your platform preferences). While Squarespace is very easy to use and learn, it’s limited in design. On the other hand, Webflow is very flexible in design but you would need to spend some time on Webflow tutorials if you are a beginner. Both platforms require no coding experience.

    You can start using both platforms without a subscription this week. It’s important to see the technical limits before you finalize the storyboards.

  2. Mentor projects visualization selection: While understanding the technical limitations through platform review, it’s important to note that not all of your visualizations have to be interactive. Here is a workflow you could follow:

    1. Use a simple data visualization tool such as Tableau or Flourish to get the data plotting.

    2. Export your draft visualization as SVG.

    3. Further design the SVG on Figma or Illustrator.

    4. Export the finished visualization as a PNG or SVG and put it into your website.

  3. Mentor projects design&development process: After reviewing the platforms and understanding the technical limitations, finalize your storyboard. While you should take all the feedback from midterm presentations into account, the final design decision belongs to your team.

WEEKLY READING / DUE: MARCH 25

Critical Approach to Data Visualization: Visualization of Horrific Events (Abdulrahman, Amwaj, Annan)

  1. Read this short (1-min) article: Why you don’t make a mindlessly beautiful visualization of a horrific event

  2. Demo & review the following projects in relation to the article:

    1. https://www.fastcompany.com/3030603/new-museum-uses-algorithms-to-visualize-how-9-11-still-shapes-the-world?_ga=2.15257651.489475506.1616183298-443435646.1612243796

    2. https://guns.periscopic.com/

    3. https://porton-down.com/ Review: porton-down.com/Timeline

Critical Approach to Data Visualization: Privacy and Data Visualization (Nidhi, Janvi)

  1. https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/nso-groups-breach-of-private-data-with-fleming-a-covid-19-contact-tracing-software

  2. You can look at Forensic Architecture’s other projects at https://forensic-architecture.org/ and review how they use data and data modeling.