VISUALISATIONS, CONVENTIONS, CREATIVITYA semiotic look on infographics and dataviz

BLACK HOLES AND MORE

WHY SEMIOTICS

TRUTH OR FAKE

THE POWER OF VISUAL

THE POWER OF DATA

CREATIVE PATHS AND AESTHETIC VALUE

SEMANTIC DESIGN

Semiotics is a theory of the lie

UMBERTOECO

Semiotics is in principle the discipline studying everything that can be used in order to lie.

If something cannot be used to tell a lie, conversely it cannot be used to tell the truth: it cannot in fact be used "to tell" at all.

Umberto Eco, A Theory of Semiotics, 1976

A sign is something that is in place of something that is not there

RENÉ MAGRITTE

LA TRAHISONDES IMAGES

WHY SEMIOTICS

TRUTH OR FAKE

THE POWER OF VISUALS

THE POWER OF DATA

CREATIVE PATHS AND AESTHETIC VALUE

SEMANTIC DESIGN

Demystifying = showing the constructive nature of what we are used to consider natural

ROLANDBARTHES

NEUROCOGNITIVE HYPEBiological-based meanings and behaviours

linear vs radial2

bullet vs gauge1

CULTURE OR NATURE?

CULTURE AND NATURE

Relational map VS Object search3

Context-sensitivity VS Selective attention

Culture and nature: does language shape reality? 5

LERABORODITSKY

WHY SEMIOTICS

TRUTH OR FAKE

THE POWER OF VISUALS

THE POWER OF DATA

CREATIVE PATHS AND AESTHETIC VALUE

SEMANTIC DESIGN

We are used to think that IMAGES DO NOT LIE

The black hole paradox

TEDx, Katie Bouman, “How to take a picture of a black hole”, 2017

Is this image “true”?

IT IS TRUE, BUT ALWAYS CONVENTIONAL

WHY SEMIOTICS

TRUTH OR FAKE

THE POWER OF VISUALS

THE POWER OF DATA

CREATIVE PATHS AND AESTHETIC VALUE

SEMANTIC DESIGN

DATA + VISUALS=

TRUTH AND RELIABILITY

DATA SUPREMACY

QUANTITATIVE FRENZY

PAOLOFABBRI

content analysis vs semantic analysis

WHAT ABOUT IRONY? AND METAPHOR?

AND CONNOTATION?

Let’s take Madame Bovary and let’s look for the word “boredom”. We do not find it. Yet Emma is extremely bored, to the point that she cheats on her husband.

WE HAVE TONS OF DATA BUT NO INFORMATION 6

MARTINLINDSTROM

Qualitative assumptions

Qualitative outputs

INTERPRETATION

Quantitative outputs

DATA MINING AND PROCESSING

VISUALISATION

WHY SEMIOTICS

TRUTH OR FAKE

THE POWER OF VISUALS

THE POWER OF DATA

CREATIVE PATHS AND AESTHETIC VALUE

SEMANTIC DESIGN

WE ARE ALL AESTHETIC CONSUMERS

GILLES LIPOVETSKY

EXPRESSION CONTENT

Fruit

Temptation

Pureness

Innovation

AESTHETIC EFFECT = correspondence between

content and expression

EXPRESSION CONTENT

VISUAL RETHORIC

COMPARISON

ANALOGY

SYMBOLISMRHYTHM

ABSTRACTIONICONISM

STORYTELLING

ANALOGY

Francesco Franchi, Green Report

EFSA, AMR Dataviz

SYMBOLISM

COMPARISON

David Mc Candless, Left vs Right

ABSTRACTION

BBC, Tomorrow’s world values

ICONISM

Marion Luttenberg

Peter Ørntoft Club de creativos y creativas

Most populated cities through time

RHYTHM

STORYTELLING

Rebee Garofalo, Pop Waves

WHY SEMIOTICS

TRUTH OR FAKE

THE POWER OF VISUALS

THE POWER OF DATA

CREATIVE PATHS AND AESTHETIC VALUE

SEMANTIC DESIGN

VISUALISATION IS (ALSO) A MATTER OF CONTENT

EDWARD TUFTE

THE PPT FALLACY 7

The space shuttle Columbia accident, 2003

No visualisation is in principle true. We have to make them true for our user.

References

1 – “Bullet Graph Versus Gauges Graph: Evaluation Human Information Processing of Industrial Visualization Based on Eye-Tracking Methods”, WU Lei, Lingli Guo, Hao Fang, Mou Lijun, Advances in Usability, User Experience and Assistive Technology, 2019

2 – “Cross-cultural differences in cognitive development: Attention to relations and objects”, Megumi Kuwabaraand Linda B. Smith, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 113 (1), 2012

3 – “Eye tracking for visualization evaluation: Reading values on linear versus radial graphs”, Joseph H. Goldberg, Jonathan Helfman, Information Visualization, 10(3), 2011

4 – Lera Boroditsky, “How Language Shapes the Way We Think”

5 –Martin Lindstrom, Small Data: The Tiny Clues That Uncover Huge Trends, 2016

7 – Edward Tufte, The Cognitive Style of Powerpoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within, 2006