Tutorial 2
Plot crimes and plot masterpieces
Learning Objectives
- Consolidate your knowledge of graphical principles, and practice critiquing visualisations.
Preparation
Make sure to have reviewed the Lecture 2 material.
Come ready to have fun and give opinions.
Task
Today you will be working in groups. Your task is to choose two data visualisations and review those visualisations in your group.
Choose one that would be typically described as ugly from the data-is-ugly reddit thread, and
Choose another that would be typically described as beautiful from the data-is-beautiful reddit thread.
Review these visualisations:
How well were the principles of graphical excellence were adhered to?
How effective were aspects of human perception used in the plot design?
Was the choice of colour appropriate for these visualisations?
Was the data represented in an appropriate way, or was the visualisation misleading?
Lastly, consider if the “rules” of data visualisation were broken - was there a good reason?
At the end of this tutorial you’ll share your chosen visualisations with the class. Appoint one member of your group to share your chosen visualisations on the discussion forum. Alongside your data visualiation share your group’s rating of the visualisation on a scale of 1 - 5, where 1 is bad and 5 is good, and why you gave it this rating.
Later in your own time, review the shared visualisations. Comment on another groups visualisation about whether you agree or disagree with the rating and why.
Note
Some ‘ugly’ visualisations may have beautiful elements, and some ‘beautiful’ visualisations may have ugly elements. You will need to use your judgement!