Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Visualization design objectives
Before we launch in to the first stages of the methodology in Chapter 2 , Setting the
Purpose and Identifying Key Factors , it is important to acknowledge a handful of key,
overriding design objectives that should provide you with a framework to test your
progress and the suitability of your design decisions.
Whereas the methodology will introduce a number of key thoughts and decisions
at each stage of the process, these objectives transcend any individual step and
highlight the intricate issues you have to handle throughout your process.
The key objectives are as follows:
Strive for form and function
The following is a quote from Frank Lloyd Wright:
"Form follows function—that has been misunderstood. Form and function should
be one, joined in a spiritual union."
The first objective brings us immediately face-to-face with the age-old debate of form
versus function or style over substance. As Frank Lloyd Wright proposed, all the
way back in 1908, these are aspects of design that should be combined and brought
together in harmony, not at the sacrifice of one or the other. There's room and a need
for both.
It is a very difficult balancing act to achieve, as I've already alluded to in the
discussion about art and science, but our aim should be to hit that sweet-spot where
something is aesthetically inviting and functionally effective.
The designer and author Don Norman ( http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/emotion_
design.html ) talks about how we're more tolerant about things that are attractive
and more likely to want them to perform well. Indeed, there is a school of thought
that suggests how we think cannot be separated from how we feel.
Norman goes on to describe how well-executed aesthetics can naturally create
favorable emotional and mental responses, but emotional affection can also
come from the experience of good usability and the accomplishment of insight.
Fundamentally, attractive form enhances function and the function portrays
beauty through its effect.
 
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