Wow – we’ve reached the middle of the semester! Which is why I’d like you to do the mid-semester course evaluation.
Last week, we talked about encodings. And we looked at Tableau, not just because it’s useful for the Design Challenge Assignment, but also because it embodies a lot of the concepts behind encodings.
If you’d like to see Alper’s notes on Excel for the design challenge, they are online. The Tableau notes are coming soon.
For this coming week, you’ll continue to work on the Design Challenge. Drafts are due in class on Wednesday – you should have some initial ideas at least and some sketches. Part of this is to make sure you’ve gotten started.
The main topic will be color. This is a big and complex topic. We’ll talk about it in class Monday. We’ll have a reading and discussion on it. We’ll barely scratch the surface of its complexity. But hopefully, it will give you the basic ideas…Design Challenge 1: One Data Set, 4 Stories
- Monday, March 6 – Lecture on Color. Please do part 1 of Reading 8 before class. I’ll go through the main ideas in lecture, but it’s one of those things that’s best if you hear it multiple times. As usual, the initial discussion posting for Assignment 8 is due.
- Tuesday, March 7th – Turn in 2 drafts for the design challenge. For the drafts, it’s OK to sketch (send a picture/scan of your sketch). At this point, we’re mainly checking to make sure that you’ve started. But the more you tell us about what you’re doing, the more likely it is that we can provide meaningful feedback.
- Wednesday, March 8 – In-Class Exercise to do critiques on your sketches for Design Challenge 1. Remember to bring at least one of your designs on paper to show your classmates! We’ll also spend some time talking about color (since there is so much to say).
- Friday, March 10 – No Class! It’s prospective student visit day for CS grad students. But don’t forget that there is a seek and find and you need to continue the discussion for assignment 8.
Next week is the week before break. We’ll talk about interaction. We’ll wrap up the design challenge. I’ll tell you about my plan for what happens in class after break.