Eye beats memory. Visual Analysis. Visual Exploration.
These are a few keywords and jargon that we have been using and dealing with in our course. This week I came across a very interesting topic, the use of visual imagery in charts. The debate was, is visual imagery treated as junk or is it useful in charts?
The main question is, why do we visualize data? Why do we create visualizations? To convey a few facts, or to represent what is happening? To depict the data visually. But another question is, whom are we visualizing the specific data-set for? Is it for a niche audience, for an article that targets the general market or for some sales team to make some decisions?
When it comes to making visualizations for the general people, the concept of visual imagery kicks in. Consider for an example, a chart depicting the type of drinks consumed by Manhattan on a Saturday night. There are 5 drinks, Beer,Martini,Cocktails, Champagne and Wine.
If shown to the mass, are they going to remember simple bars and the figure depicting the number of drinks, or a chart which is representing the same information more creatively yet simple. For instance, icons of beers , wine glasses and martini glasses for each category instead of the normal labels?
From personal experience, some information is better remembered when associated with pictures. The below linked paper also mentions that people were able to recall the visual imagery charts in a better way after a longer period as compared to the normal conventional charts.
When it comes to visual embellishments , I feel the audience of the visualization is very important. A marketing executive or a sales executive wouldn’t want to see images for monsters in monstrous costs or pictures of beer in the sales trends, but the general audience will be able to remember it in a better fashion.
References – View page 9 , figure 10 for the chart I am taking about here
http://hci.usask.ca/uploads/173-pap0297-bateman.pdf