Books

I believe that critique is a valuable skill for both practicing and learning Visualization (see Tutorial 4: Critique). The book Discussing Design is a great resource to learn it.

If you need to pick a book to get started, I recommend Alberto Cairo’s the The Truthful Art.

Alberto Cairo is a designer and journalist who has become a visualization educator. He has written some excellent books on visualization. I use excerpts from his books “The Functional Art” and “The Truthful Art” in my class.

This is the closest thing to a “primary textbook” for my class. The course shares a similar philosophy to the book, and we’ll read almost all of the chapters. The UW library has electronic copies, so students do not need to buy it.

Jacques Bertin was a French cartographer who had lots of ideas about visualization, before there was a field of visualization. Many of the ideas we use in visualization today can be seen in his work, although reading these “original sources” can be challenging.

Edward Tufte’s books are probably the most famous (or infamous) books on visualization. They are more art history books, full of historical examples and commentary, than books to help you understand or design visualizations. However, they are very influential, and everyone in the field (and many people outside of the field) talks about them. We look at parts of them for class.

Discussing Design

Books: what should I read first?

Cairo: The Truthful Art and The Functional Art

Munzner: Visualization Analysis and Design

Bertin's Books (Semiology of Graphics)

Tufte's Books