Setting the Purpose and Identifying Key Factors - Data Visualization: A Successful Design Process - page 39

Of course, it is important not to stretch the functional and tonal responsibility and
capability of visualization too far. This is where any hype and disproportionate
expectation about the potential impact of data visualization can be misplaced.
Data visualization is a means to an end, not an end in itself. It's merely a bridge
connecting the messenger to the receiver and its limitations are framed by our own
inherent irrationalities, prejudices, assumptions, and irrational tastes. All these
factors can undermine the consistency and reliability of any predicted reaction to a
given visualization, but that is something we can't realistically influence.
All we can do is form a best judgment about where on the continuum of design
style, from a pragmatic experience through to an emotive one, the purpose of our
data visualization will be most suitably defined. The ultimate responsibility for what
happens beyond the visualization engagement sits with the reader or the user.
Key factors surrounding a visualization
project
The following is a quotation from Edward Tufte's topic, The Visual Display of
Quantitative Information :
"Most principles of design should be greeted with some skepticism... we may come
to see only through the lenses of word authority rather than with our own eyes."
While establishing the purpose of the visualization project sets the desired tone of
the design and its function, there are inevitably many other factors that will have a
significant influence on the shape and direction of our visualization design.
It is especially important to identify and recognize the impact of the contextual
conditions, within and around your project that will affect what you can and can't
achieve and how you might achieve it.
This list of factors may seem quite obvious and fairly rudimentary, but if we wish to
eradicate the likelihood of misjudgments or misunderstandings, and maximize the
efficiency and effectiveness of the process, we need to nail them early on.
There is simply no point waiting until it is too late to consider these, because by then
you will have already followed a certain path and spent valuable time and resources
on your work.