Designing Interfaces, 3rd Edition

Chapter 9. Showing Complex Data

Done well, information graphics—including maps, tables, and graphs—communicate knowledge visually rather than verbally in an elegant and magical way. They let people use their eyes and minds to draw their own conclusions; they show, rather than tell. Visualizing data is an art and a science. Data visualization is a specialization within the discipline of design and requires subject matter expertise in addition to a strong visual design sensibility.

Creating artful visualizations is a discipline unto itself. This chapter discusses the basics of information graphics and shows some of the most common ways to display data in a mobile application or website.

The Basics of Information Graphics

Information graphics simply means data presented visually, with the goal of imparting knowledge to the user. We include tables and tree views in that description because they are inherently visual, even though they’re constructed primarily from text instead of lines and polygons. Other familiar static information graphics include maps, flowcharts, bar plots, and diagrams of real-world objects.

But we’re dealing with computers, not paper. You can make almost any good static design better with interactivity. Interactive tools let the user hide and show information as they need it, and they put the user in control, allowing them to choose how to view and explore that information.

Even the mere act of manipulating and rearranging the data in an interactive graphic ...