Summary of chapter 16 of visual design solutions

  “The display of numerical facts can easily become meaningless.” (page 311) It’s the major reason to think about how to make numbers more comprehensive and liven up their interests for engaging viewers instead of shutting down the interface directly when they see numbers filling in the screen.

  Just like we always pay attention to the typeface of character first and then the specific contents, we need consider about the typeface of numbers first as well.

  Different from text content that proportionate spacing in column can make it legible for viewing, we need use monospaced typeface for numbers in column which allows the same amount of horizontal space on the screen for distinct recognize. In addition, usually the lining figures are better than old-style figures for displaying on the screen because they sit on the baseline as capital letters which can form a unified view easily and engage viewers.

  According to the research of cognitive mechanism in our brain on dealing with numbers for communicating, we have an approximate sense about number than an exact which means that humans usually remember the approximate numbers in long-term memory. So if not necessary, we don’t need provide exact statistics in our presentation. For better memory of these statistics, we can even connect it with similar examples or particular event and experience to make a meaningful relevance for easier recalling.

  There are several effective ways to make numbers presentation more interesting. For example, we can single out a statistical fact which need emphasized by using an impressive typeface in a contrast background to make it stand out. We can also use numbers with images and text together to tell a story and convey some deeper meaning by highlighting numbers in promoting a disease preventing topic. Actually, use symbols and create a metaphor for numbers can also benefit for conveying meaning and make numbers concrete can really decrease viewers’ cognitive efforts on recognizing and remembering numbers.

  For datasets which include lots of collections of data, we need think deeper on how to visualize it for comfortable viewing rather than a few statics for presentation mentioned above.

  “Visualization allows viewers to glean insights and to discover patterns in the data that would not be visible as raw numbers.” (page 322) In this case, we need structure these data to graphs or illustrations for increasing comprehension, sustain attention and add memorability.

  For example, we can make data comparisons by bar graph or pictograph; depict trends over time by line graph; represent parts of a whole by pie charts. These four types of graph are used commonly in data presentation.

  Bar graphs can be placed horizontally or vertically depends on specific purpose, it’s really useful for data comparing and showing specific values in a series. We can group different types of data with diverse contrast colors and place stacked bars on the baseline to make it more legible for viewers to read and understand. If not necessary, do not use 3-D bars because they will burden viewers’ eyes.

  To design pictographs for comparing data, we need choose appropriate values for icons and select corresponding images to represent each category and label each row with values it represents then vertically align icons to help viewers make comparisons.

  Line graphs are benefit for finding trends from lines consist of lots of data dots. Similar with bar graphs, we need use different colors to represent different categories. But we need make sure that those colors should have great contrast between each other to ensure legibility and readability. To emphasize key data, we can make relative represented lines thicker or darker.

  Pie graphs can show the size of each part as a percentage of the whole in order to make comparisons between wedges. (page 331) It’s acceptable to use pie graphs for percentage comparisons, but if we want viewers to make accurate comparison, do not use pie graphs.

  Besides these four data graphs, we can also use data tables to present data directly. Comparing to the data graphs, data tables are as visible as graphs but they are more remarkable. But before we decide to use data tables for presenting data especially for comparison, we need get clear about our purpose, improve readability, clarify the numbers inside and use some typographic principles to make the table more effective and efficient.