Some thoughts for a Monday (November 18th)

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A mix of things inter-related things. Advice for DE12, DE6 grades, future assignments, etc.

DE12 is due Friday, with no penalty if you turn things in by Monday (November 25th).

Some advice (from questions after class, and DE6 grading)…

  1. The assignment says “If all of your visualizations are bar charts …” - we do value variety, but we value effectiveness more. If it really is the case that your stories are all told best with the same chart design, then you might have 4 bar charts or scatterplots or … At least your alternate could be different (which might reinforce why the bar chart is the best choice).

    1. Within the world of bar charts, there is a wide range of designs - so there might be a lot of variety, even if they are all technically bar charts. Consider how to use faceting, multiple coordinated charts, different orderings, extra encodings (e.g., colored bars), etc.
    2. If you choose a simpler design, there is more pressure on getting the details right to tell a compelling story. If the story is so simple that “Tableau” (or Excel) defaults are sufficient, it might not be sufficently ambitous.
    3. Combining charts (even if they are the same charts) leads to a combined thing that is different than its parts…

  2. The feedback for DE6 may be helpful (for DE12 and something else below). We’re slow in getting it back to you (see below - it’s coming soon!), but, a few common mistakes to keep in mind.

    1. You need to have a good title and caption. We were lenient on DE6 but mayu not be in the future (including DE12). The Automatically generated ones by Tableau are unlikely to be effective.
    2. Be aware of inappropriate encodings (e.g., using a treemap for something that isn’t part whole) and inappropriate aggregations (e.g., comparing sums of rates). We will have less patience for this in the future.
    3. Putting multiple charts together is a good way to tell a more complex story - but you need to help the viewer make the connection (through the title, caption, and design details).
    4. In general, look at the “codes” and rubric DE5-6 Codes: Feedback - this can give you an idea of what we are looking for.

Connected to that, DE6 grades are coming soon. With some (not a ton) of feedback. At first, the comments were meant mainly as notes to provide a rationale for grades. It was before the next thing…

Coming Attractions 1: Rather than a “final project,” we are going to have DE6 do-overs. A chance for you to try again with DE6 and show that you’ve learned something. A warning: we will be less lenient about the mistakes discussed above (IE, IA codes, missing titles and captions, …). Details coming soon, but these will be do the last day of class (so if all goes according to plan, you will have 3 weeks after you get your DE6 feedback).

Coming Attactions 2: Next week, I am going to try to do the “Design School” again. I am not a designer, nor a design educator. But I will try to help you learn a little about design. Hopefully, it will be useful beyond doing visualization. There will be a “design school assignment” (due after Thanksgiving) that will take the place of the regular seek and find and discussion.

Coming Attractions 3: There will be a “Nested Model” exercise as well. It will be due after Thanksgiving.

Coming Attractions Summary: For the final weeks of class, the schedule might be a little weird (with the end of the semester and Thanksgiving). I will put together a calendar explaining everything planned soon.