Formality in Sketches and Visual Representation

Alan Blackwell, University of Cambridge

Luke Church, University of Cambridge

Beryl Plimmer, Auckland University

Dave Gray, XPLANE

Kinds of Formality

• i) Formal Intention

• ii) Formal Connotation

• iii) Formal Description

• iv) Formal Interpretation

i) Formal Intention

• a clear formulation of objectives

ii) Formal Connotation

• professional or conservative appearance

iii) Formal Description

• representation elements are clearly differentiated – from other classes of element– from other parts of the representation (bounded and separate) – from alternatives that might have been chosen but are not

• “elements” not just visual symbols, but relations:– arrangement in the plane– topological relations– grouped graphical attributes

iv) Formal Interpretation

• Rules: things a reader should do differently in response to differences in the representation

• the “reader” may be a machine

• human readers may interpret using different rules …

• including rules the creator didn’t intend

Sketches and Computation

• visual representations that are created or captured by computers tend toward formality.

• computers follow interpretative rules

• business and scientific visual styles have formal connotations

• user interfaces need predictable correspondences

Problems

• Are some kinds of human endeavour not supported by computer processing of visual representations, because inappropriately formalised?

• Above kinds of formalisation are conflated …

• … so freedom of intention is restricted:– as a result of representational choices – as a result of technical implementations– as a result of unnecessary connotations

Some Productive Research Approaches

• Studies of designers

• Studies of pencil use – (or other traditional drawing tools)

• Studies of ‘finishedness’ in graphic communication

• Studies of ‘ideation’

• Philosophy of art

• Sociology of knowledge

Case Studies

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Discussion?