Visual Thinking
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Visual Thinking Rich Miller LexisNexis Research Scientist Alliances & New Technology [email protected]
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Transcript of Visual Thinking
Visual Thinking
Rich MillerLexisNexis Research ScientistAlliances & New Technology
What is Visual Thinking? An approach to understanding, creating,
and communicating A collection of visually-based concepts
and methods Information Visualization guidelines Mindmaps Sequential visual representations
What we can learn from Film and Comics Vizability – cd/book on visual skills
Visual Thinking and “Aboutness” General connection
Understanding what things are about Communicating what things are about
Specific connection Visualizations of index term collections
Result of visual thinking Prime you to more visually process
today’s information
Synonyms visual thinking Vizability non-linear thinking lateral thinking spatial reasoning right brain thinking
better perceive theworld
better representinformation to the
target audience
The Visual Thinking Process
Who is it for? Everyone who needs to imagine,
resolve, invent, analyze, and communicate
UI designers, product managers, mathematicians, geneticists, writers, engineering students, etc.
Anyone who needs to formulate a problem and/or represent its solution to colleagues or users
Why is it useful? To enhance performance in…
Thinking Representing Communicating
To create more compelling, usable products Incorporating visualization into daily work
can translate to superior products
A Basic, Real World Example
informal formal
self
world
co-workers
Vizability - methodsfor understandingand communicating
Mindmaps - specific methodfor representing information
InfoViz guidelines - how tobest communicate throughspatial representations (Tufte,Kosslyn, others)
Sequential Art Concepts -application of temporallybased visual representations(e.g. Film, Comics)
Applications of visual thinking concepts
InfoViz Guidelines Tufte
Espouses “graphical excellence” using his principles Hates “chart junk” Anti-PowerPoint Three landmark books Offers excellent seminar Presentation guidelines
Kosslyn Psychology-based principles Focus on limitations of human perceptual system
Others Many companies creating product solutions Ray Daley monitoring infoviz for LEXIS-NEXIS
Visualization Examples Inxight hyperbolic tree Criminal Intelligence – link analysis Thinkmap – spider, bubble,
chronology Demo of answer set visualization
Sequential Art Concepts Film
Borrow filmmaking techniques for UI design and visual representation.
Use pictures, time, and space to communicate Example course
Comics Similar techniques to film, but more
discontinuous Scott McCloud books
Understanding Comics – “must read” for web designers; recommended by Tufte
Reinventing Comics
Mind Maps Spatial/hierarchical representation of a
given information space A.k.a concept maps Examples
Univ. of Zurich professor Steve Gould from UK
Books Mindmapping The Mind Map Book
Vizability Textbook + CD + sketchpad Outgrowth of McKim book/course
Used at Stanford to teach ME students how to draw
Drawing can be taught…not as innate as one might think
To enhance performance in… Thinking and Perceiving Representing Communicating
Vizability Goals Familiarize you w/the visual culture Make you aware of your own visual
abilities Exercise and improve your skills in
visualization Incorporate these skills into your daily
life and professional activities
Vizability Benefits Provides a methodology and awareness…
About problem finding and problem solving About maintaining momentum on a task About knowing how to sustain “flow experiences” --
productivity state between boredom and anxiety. Get more out of your mind
By building fluid representational skills More useful outputs
Idea logs Whiteboard content Pictures used for communication and reference
The ARC Cycle
Act
ReflectChange
The cube metaphor Six sides - 6 elements of visual
culture Environments Culture Seeing Drawing Diagramming Imagining
Like a cube, the product is non-linear
Samples from the Vizability CD Cast Culture
Prototyping Sketching Idea logs
Environment Seeing Imagining Drawing Diagramming
Putting in into practice Look more closely, and analyze what you
see When in doubt, draw a picture
Or ask someone to draw theirs Borrow concepts from other forms of
communication (e.g. film, comics) Maximize rate of info transfer, minimize
noise (e.g. PPT 3D feature) Start your idea log Feel free to contact me at…
Memex Link Analysisreturn
