The use of visualization is pervasive in the media: explanatory diagrams in magazines and textbooks, graphs describing statistics and budgets, images showing spatial layouts of objects, new experimental data plotted against theoretical expectations, etc. In each case, the author of the visualization tries to convey a point of view by emphasizing some aspects of the data while toning down other aspects. The result can vary widely, from informative to misleading. How did you do on your first homework? Can you apply the design principles we talked about in class?
Your task is to now critique the visualization you created for assignment 1. Apply the knowledge of design principles that we discussed in class and write about which aspects of your visualizations you believe effectively communicates the data. Also describe aspects which seem to be important to you and provide a short (2-3 pages) write-up describing your design including one paragraph about the process you used to do the exploration and analysis in your final dashboard. Did anything limit or frustrate you? If nothing did, perhaps there was something that was more difficult than you thought it should be.
Please note that this should be a very different write-up compared to what you did for assignment 1. Assignment 1 asked you to explain your reasoning process in coming up with the visualizations. In this assignment you should reflect on the pros and cons of your design choices based on the design principles that we recently discussed in class. It is ok to be critical of your visualization :)
As different visualizations can emphasize different aspects of a data set, you should document what aspects of the data you are attempting to most effectively communicate. In short, what story (or stories) are you trying to tell? Just as important, also note which aspects of the data might be obscured or down-played due to your visualization design.
Understanding the data and evaluating the visualization may take some time. So plan accordingly. Also try to apply the design recommendations discussed in class and our readings. Please feel free to include alternative visualization prototypes (using your favorite tool) as a way to illustrate your critique.
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