Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 8.
Your Reaction and Visual Answer: Visualizing What You Know or Think
You may now want to devise simple visualization with the use of visual metaphors and analogies. It may be done on a computer, a tablet
computer such as an iPad, or on a smart phone. You may choose to draw a nature- or knowledge-derived visualization; however, the process
of creating visualization has its inherent tendency to apply abstract thinking; you may prefer to find a way of depicting an abstract concept
by assigning visuals to abstract ideas and forces, such as love, infinity, or an expanse, thus making the unseen visible. A large number of
scientists perceive the visualization techniques as a chance to show what is invisible - translation of mental, abstract, formal concepts into
images: pictures or graphs. In these cases, visualization is not only making the unseen visible - it is building a meaningful net of associa-
tions and connotations. You will thus create connotations, analogies, signs, icons, acronyms, idioms, symbols, synonyms, metaphors, and
paraphrases. For this purpose use a semiotic way of applying signs, symbols, and iconic images; also, employ some tools of visual thinking
such as abstracting details that are not crucial for conveying the core of your message. Apply the principles that control the basic elements
in art, such as line or color, and then convey the essence of your response to a selected slice of reality. Make your visualization simple and
convincing. A grasp of visualization techniques is a requisite for designing effective visual marketing. Sellers extract superior features of their
products and present them as quite distinct images in a way that everybody can apprehend the product's quality and buy the marketed article.
Choose a simple theme for your visualization; for example, you may want to present your daily activities using simple symbols, make a visual
explanation of how your video camera is working, visualize in an explanatory way a structure of a plant cell, visually present the overall
organization of your work place, or picture your family tree. Be careful to avoid simplifications and steer clear of clichés. To be understood
and able to convince others, try to find the very essence of the problem you discuss and show it in a simple way.
In the Manuel Lima's topic (2011), Lev Mano-
wich indicates the important features that make
information visualization unique: projects are
visually dense, with more data; they show rela-
tions between data; in aesthetical terms, they show
complexity (chaos theory, emergent complexity
theory) rather than reduction (breaking down into
the simplest elements). According to Lima, visu-
alizations fall into all three categories of science,
design, and art; they are used as a tool for under-
standing data - i.e. discovering patterns, connec-
tions, and structure. As a scientific tool, informa-
tion visualization serves for discovery of new
knowledge; as a design tool it facilitates the per-
ception of patterns and evokes emotions in the
viewers; as art it is a technique to produce some-
thing non-utilitarian and aesthetically interesting
(Lima, 2011, p. 12).
