Asking 'Why' Leads to Diversity

[In response to Aesthetics of Information Visualization by Warren Sack]

I found that the article contained a great deal of political discussion. However, what stood out for me was the posing of a few good questions. The first being why. It's a good question because it gives artists (media artists especially) a reason to more deeply engage with their visualizations. Why this technique? Why that method? The answers lead to a chain of further questions, eventually leading us to, as the article describes, the issue of definition for aesthetic qualities, such as beauty. In the process of creating effective visualizations, we find ourselves locked in a glorious philosophical debate.

This questioning of purpose paves the way for the second major question suggested by this article; that is, the issue of the sublime. The article distinguishes between employing visualization tactics for reasons being sublime and user-friendly. Striving to make a visualization graphically easy to understand is an approach or criterion, as the author of the article claims, borrowed from the technical field of science and engineering. And so, media artists are inevitably challenged to find a comfortable balance between the so-deemed unsatisfactory qualities of predictability and ease of understanding, and the traditional artistic qualities of inventiveness, creativity, and expression.

The good thing about media art and visualizations, I find, is that artists have the freedom to place their artwork wherever they want on this gradational scale. I admit that restrictions may sometimes aid in developing an artist's understanding. However, having this freedom is what separates the art field from those such as science and engineering. It leads to diversity, and that's a good thing too.

Infographic: Roller Coasters!

The greatest roller coasters in the world!

Coaster-specific info

Number of coaster cars = number of drops

Movable, cursor-activated speed and height ruler

Roller coaster's location in the world

Point-of-view video footage of each roller coaster

Coaster info preview on hover

In the process of creating this work, I strived to maintain three principles; the first being simplicity. In choosing the world's top roller coasters for my data set, I had access to a wide variety statistics for a rather small number of elements (11). In this way, I was able to keep charts relatively small and leave room for other types of information. Accordingly, I stuck with simple shapes for the visuals, grouping them together to form clouds or coaster cars. Because the layout elements varied greatly in information type, I used contrasting colors to stress their individuality and to set them apart from one another. 

The second principle I pursued to was intuitiveness. The infographic is laid out in such a way that when you select a roller coaster from the graph, an animation depicting a roller coaster drop would appear, directing you to the coaster's location on a map of the world. Notice that as you select higher roller coasters, the drop visualization heightens accordingly. 

Leaving out the graph labels was a conscious choice as well. This was done not only to prevent the viewer from being overwhelmed by numbers, but to give them an intuitive tool with which they can estimate and compare coaster heights and speeds on their own, should they choose to. 

The third quality I hoped to maintain was essence. I wanted to display not just one facet of roller coaster-ness, such as speed, but to include things like coaster height, number of drops, location in the world, park of residence, date of opening.

Also, what better way to demonstrate the essence of roller coasters than to show POV footage for every one of them?

Citations:

“Record Holders,” Roller Coaster DataBase, accessed January 21, 2013, http://rcdb.com/rhr.htm.

“Kingda Ka Front Seat on-ride POV Six Flags Great Adventure” [May 9, 2010]. Video clip. Accessed Feb 16, 2013. YouTube. www.YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTNcnJS-a2M.

“Official Top Thrill Dragster POV in HD” [November 18, 2009]. Video clip. Accessed Feb 16, 2013. YouTube. www.YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbN3NU4hIZg.

“Superman: Escape From Krypton Front Seat (HD POV) Backwards Six Flags Magic Mountain” [March 21, 2011]. Video clip. Accessed Feb 16, 2013. YouTube. www.YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WQXxZmLMFQ.

“The Tower of Terror II - POV - Dreamworld Rides” [December 21, 2010]. Video clip. Accessed Feb 16, 2013. YouTube. www.YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsDnBIn1ouk.

“Steel Dragon 2000 onride 9 (front row)” [November 15, 2007]. Video clip. Accessed Feb 16, 2013. YouTube. www.YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tIkUFb3KAI.

“NEW! Official Millennium Force POV” [October 28, 2011]. Video clip. Accessed Feb 16, 2013. YouTube. www.YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To3jujFzwHg.

“Leviathan Front Seat on-ride HD POV Canada's Wonderland” [May 15, 2012]. Video clip. Accessed Feb 16, 2013. YouTube. www.YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0ASWKwQwzE.

“Intimidator 305 Front Seat on-ride POV Kings Dominion” [April 12, 2010]. Video clip. Accessed Feb 16, 2013. YouTube. www.YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEyY_lO-xwA.

“Six Flags Magic Mountain Goliath POV” [March 24, 2011]. Video clip. Accessed Feb 16, 2013. YouTube. www.YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOqeOsjeFX4.

“FORMULA ROSSA - Onride - Ferrari World” [November 6, 2010]. Video clip. Accessed Feb 16, 2013. YouTube. www.YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INn1dK_l0uc.

“TV Static effect” [September 10, 2011]. Video clip. Accessed Feb 16, 2013. YouTube. www.YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TL1I5nVNew.

Visualization 1: Design Concept

The fastest roller coasters in the world! The data includes each coaster name, park/country of residence, max speed, opening year, and rank in the world. Is there a correlation? After experimenting with the data set and plotting various combinations, I have found several relations worth visually pursuing. In the interest of simplicity, I will, for the present time, remain with the speed vs. opening year correlation outlined below.

I also came up with a palette outlining a colour scheme, possible fonts, and shapes of the final Processing file. This palette, along with a general layout of the planned visualization, are pictured below.