Information Manifesto By: Manuel Lima [http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/blog/?p=644]

Form Follows Function

• Form doesn’t follow data. Data is incongruent by nature. Form follows a purpose, and in the case of Information Visualization, Form follows Revelation. Take the simplest analogy of a wooden chair. Data represents all the different wooden components (seat, back, legs) that are then assembled according to an ultimate goal: to seat in the case of the chair, or to reveal and disclose in the case of Visualization. Form in both cases arises from the conjunction of the different building blocks, but it never conforms to them. It is only from the problem domain that we can ascertain if a layout may be better suited and easier to understand than others. Independently of the subject, the purpose should always be centred on explanation and unveiling, which in turn leads to discovery and insight.

I understand form this point that it is about the care in which we create assets with time for them to come together in a individual way so that the assets can follow through into making something function or creating something which has a function.

Start with a Question

• “He who is ashamed of asking is afraid of learning”, says a famous Danish proverb. A great quality to anyone doing work in the realm of Information Visualization is to be curious and inquisitive. Every project should start with a question. An inquiry that leads you to discover further insights on the system, and in the process answer questions that weren’t even there in the beginning. This investigation might arise from a personal quest or the specific needs of a client or audience, but you should always have a defined query to drive your work.

A question is a question however; it is the depth of it which aids in how deep an inquiry can as well as the depth of the answers which are produced from them can always be due to the initial questions posed.

Interactivity is Key

• As defined by , Stuart K. Card and Jock D. Mackinlay, “Information Visualization is the use of computer-supported, interactive, visual representations of abstract data to amplify cognition”. This well-known statement highlights how interactivity is an integral part of the field’s DNA. Any Information Visualization project should not only facilitate understanding but also the analysis of the data, according to specific use cases and defined goals. By employing interactive techniques, users are able to properly investigate and reshape the layout in order to find appropriate answers to their questions. This capability becomes imperative as the degree of complexity of the portrayed system increases. Visualization should be recognized as a discovery tool.

Interactivity is an element, which has developed vigorously through the 21st Century. This element or factor of interactivity is crucial as it’s the reason in which users would user something, why designers would create something with this in mind. There are various ways in creating interactivity, what is effective is what helps the end product or result.

Cite your source

• Information Visualization, as any other means of conveying information, has the power to lie, to omit, and to be deliberately biased. To avoid any misconception you should always cite your source. If your raw material is a public dataset, the results of a scientific study, or even your own personal data, you should always disclose where it came from, provide a link to it, and if possible, clarify what was used and how it was extracted. By doing so you allow people to review the original source and properly validate its authenticity. It will also bring credibility and integrity to your work. This principle has long been advocated by and should be widely applied to any project that visually conveys external data.

The Power of Narrative

• Human beings love stories and storytelling is one of the most successful and powerful ways to learn, discover and disseminate information. Your project should be able to convey a message and easily encapsulate a compelling narrative.

Show your work clearly however, better yet show the link between one piece of work from another as clear as. With this it builds the confident within the creator and the ease of understanding through the user’s is also looked at.

Do not glorify Aesthetics

• Aesthetics are an important quality to many Information Visualization projects and a critical enticement at first sight, but it should always be seen as a consequence and never its ultimate goal.

The aesthetics of any project should always complement what the raw research, process and development have created. Yes aesthetics have their time and place and could be the last factor from which something looks good however, it is not the whole nor the sole important aspect.

Look for Relevancy

• Extracting relevancy in a set of data is one of the hardest pursuits for any machine. This is where natural human abilities such as pattern recognition and parallel processing come in hand. Relevancy is also highly dependent on the final user and the context of interaction. If the relevancy ratio is high it can increase the possibility of comprehension, assimilation and decision-making.

For things to be relevant they make things much more easier both from the creator and designer point of view as well as the user. It is all down to the person and how they work however; with relevance there is more ease and convenience.

Embrace Time

• Time is one of the hardest variables to in any system. It’s also one of the richest. If we consider a social network, we can quickly realize that a snapshot in time would only tell us a bit of information about the community. On the other hand, if time had been properly measured and mapped, it would provide us with a much richer understanding of the changing dynamics of that social group. We should always consider time when our targeted system is affected by its progression.

Aspire for Knowledge

• A core ability of Information Visualization is to translate information into knowledge. It’s also to facilitate understanding and aid cognition. Every project should aim at making the system more intelligible and transparent, or find an explicit new insight or pattern within it. It should always provide a polished gem of knowledge. As eloquently stated on his Sémiologie Graphique, first published in 1967, “it is the singular characteristic of a good graphic transcription that it alone permits us to evaluate fully the quality of the content of the information”.

The more knowledge ones knows the better, in honesty from this manifesto what I have also learnt is that the more knowledge and information there is the more time there is to and create.

Avoid gratuitous visualisations

• “Information gently but relentlessly drizzles down on us in an invisible, impalpable electric rain”. This is how physicist Hans Christian von Baeyer starts his book Information: The New Language of Science. To the growing amounts of publicly available data, Information Visualization needs to respond as a cognitive filter, an empowered lens of insight, and should never add more noise to the flow. Don’t assume any visualization is a positive step forward. In the context of Information Visualization, simply conveying data in a visual form, without shedding light on the portrayed subject, or even worst, making it more complex, can only be considered a failure.

It is always good to produce a visualisation through data, this is a basic form of the art however, the real meaning of something and what is actually is and then showing this through visuals is the better way. By doing this, the designer is showing not only his depth of knowledge but also how it can be used or its real relevance.