Conceiving and Reasoning Visualization Design Options - Data Visualization: A Successful Design Process - page 87

This is important to recognize because it may be that when you start compiling your
potential representation solution, you start to see things in a different light. This is
particularly possible when the designer starts to consider integrating an extra layer
of meaning through visual metaphor.
Visual metaphors are about integrating a certain visual quality in your work that
somehow conveys that extra bit of connection between the data, the design, and
the topic. It goes beyond just the choice of visual variable, though this will have a
strong influence.
Deploying the best visual metaphor is something that really requires a strong design
instinct and a certain amount of experience.
In this next example, designer Moritz Stefaner was commissioned to analyze and
visualize how the clients and customers of a German start-up muesli company
combined the ingredients they offer. The end result was a static visualization based
on a radial network or chord diagram (on the right), showing ingredients grouped
by category (base mueslis, fruit, nuts, sweets, and so on):
Images from "Müsli Ingredient Network" ( http://moritz.stefaner.eu/projects/musli-
ingredient-network/ ), created by Moritz Stefaner for mymuesli ( http://mymuesli.com )
When describing his design process, Moritz noted how, when he worked on different
sketches of the data, the matrix chart (example on the left-hand side) revealed some
particularly strong stories that were otherwise missed in the radial diagram (on the
right-hand side).