Setting the Purpose and Identifying Key Factors - Data Visualization: A Successful Design Process - page 25

By contrast, for a project that is self-initiated, things are very different. Maybe, it is a
dataset that you've found about a subject that interests you, maybe you've decided to
test out some theory or you've been chatting to (or, more truthfully, drinking with)
mates and have struck on a particular curiosity that simply must be explored.
This scenario is a completely self-defined, self-determined, and more flexible context
than that of a commissioned project. It doesn't involve a client, or a brief, or a set of
instructions, or restrictions on scope, timescales, or audience—you've got a blank
canvas to follow the scent of what it is that motivated you in the first place.
A very different proposition to a commissioned project and an important distinction
that needs to be established.
The intended effect
Whatever the motivation and background for doing the project, you will inevitably
start to form a vision in your mind of what you might be about to create, how it
might look, and what it might do. This is a natural instinct as you embark on a
creative process.
This vision might leap into your mind the minute you start to think around the task,
regardless of its origin. You might recall certain influential or inspirational works
that you've seen in the past or remember concepts you previously developed that
went no further.
It's important to capture these thoughts if they do form. Make sure you keep notes,
in your sketchbook, on your tablet, or on a cigarette packet—it doesn't matter
where, just do it before you forget. While we don't want to be closed off and commit
ourselves to the pursuit of the first thing we think of, these instinctive thoughts could
prove valuable later on.
It's from these sparks of creativity that we shift our thoughts to the second dimension
of purpose, which is the intended effect of the visualization project. This is a really
critical matter, so we're going to take a bit of time to get our heads around it.
Here's why it's so important to be thinking about all this in such depth. Even though it
is very early in the process, the decisions, or more accurately, the definitions we form
now, will have a strong bearing on the creative direction we pursue. It's not doing
anything that can't be reversed or refined further down the line but it is important to
establish as much focus and clarity about our intentions now so that we can reduce the
complexity of the challenge and the potential variety of the solution.
The choices we make now will also influence the resources (technical and
personnel) we might need to deploy, but we shall look more at this towards the
end of the chapter.