Designer Practice at UAL

During my time at the university, I have encountered diverse approaches to data visualization design. From the beginning, this has been a process of discovery and rethinking where my curiosity and sensitivity about the practice and the process of creation as a designer of data visualizations have been evolving.

From the most basic conception of what data visualization is, and the understanding that a message is being given, created by someone and that there is an audience and a message that is not 100% objective, but has a purpose “Objectivity is situated and historically specific; it comes from somewhere and is the result of ongoing changes to the conditions of inquiry, conditions that are at once material, social, and ethical.”(L. Gitelman, 2013). This has profoundly influenced my work, acknowledging the responsibility inherent in our working methodology as designers.

Consequently, this knowledge influences the entirety of the creative process, extending its impact on the data collection and processing stages. Previously, I had seldom found enjoyment in this activity, preferring instead to commence with a clear objective and well-defined data. However, the experience we had in different projects, such as the project The Sounds of Markets in South London, where the project starts with a random walk through London, recognizing different sounds, and documenting different auditory experiences, changed drastically the way I conceived this process. I began to perceive the collection process as an inherently creative endeavor, capable of reshaping our perceptions of both the data itself and the world we inhabit, the data tells us a story. “We are ready to question the impersonality of a merely technical approach to data and to begin designing ways to connect numbers to what they really stand for: knowledge, behaviors, people.” (Lupi, 2017).

By embracing these insights, my growth as a designer has been significantly enriched. I now appreciate the intricate interplay between the practice of visualization and the data collection process, recognizing the transformative potential inherent within each stage. This holistic approach has enabled me to imbue my creations with a deeper sense of purpose, bridging the gap between the abstract realm of data and the expressive world of design.

The Solar Shadows project serves as another testament to the pivotal role of data collection in our creative development. From its conception, the project has been created from an understanding of the data and its meaning, which again, came from a walk and an understanding of the area around the university. And this is in resonance with “ experiences that derive from sensation and emotion – as ways of knowing on par with more quantitative methods of knowing and experiencing the world” (D'Ignazio. C. & Klein. L. F. 2020). that data feminism promotes.

Subsequently, while we developed diverse data visualizations, there are several points that I consider important and that gave me new insights into my practice as a designer. From the technical aspect and skills growth, I always tried to stay away from my previous processes as a data scientist, to be open to new tools closer to design and interaction both tactile and sonic, and my work is strongly influenced by this. I endeavored to make the tools serve my creative vision rather than the other way around, and although most of my work has a quite marked digital part, as seen in the figure above, in total, we used more than 10 different software during all the processes, and we created a quite broad diverse set of visualizations. “Using different tools is a way to inhibit the way
we render our concepts—with results that may be less constrained by our own expectations” (Lupton. E. & Phillips. J. C, 2011)

However, the biggest discovery I had during the process of creating visualizations did not emerge from the tools or skills but from collaborating with interdisciplinary and intercultural teams, especially in projects such as those working with United Nations Women, or Solar Shadows, where we had to work for several weeks together.

The collaboration with such diverse groups offers communication challenges, and different dispositions of each of the individuals for different activities, not only academic ones, this was a challenge that we had to overcome together and it required a high level of tolerance, flexibility, and clear and assertive communication. Yet, the benefits to the creative process were immense, and I personally feel that all the feedback meetings we had, both from our tutors and peers or even students, and co-creation meetings greatly increased the quality of the work we were doing.

Turning to end-user engagement, throughout all the projects the way we created a message was quite new to me since in different projects we tried different approaches. In A Burning Issue for example, we opted for a much more direct approach to the user, focused on a social network like Instagram where you usually don't have more than 10 seconds to capture the end user. While this restricts our work as designers, it also serves as an excellent exercise to consider the impact on the audience and explore different audiovisual means of captivating attention.

Regarding our language and representations, with our projects we try (I hope that successfully) to create our own language, a language better say, sometimes taking as a base certain designs and cultural influences, like the weaving and embroidery patterns in Eastern Europe and Western Asia, or the sombrero Vueltiao in Colombia. However, the data visualization part was not only present in the final outcome, actually, it was a transversal part of all the processes. Sparkling first some insights and providing ideas that we used to create the rest of our message, first we had to use certain languages of common understanding and adapt them to manifest our own concepts.

In essence, from my personal standpoint after all these projects, I consider that the practice as data designers should not be eclipsed by the final outcome, but instead should involve all the creative processes, including the data recollection, processing, research, and generation of sketches, recognizing the relevant potential in meaning inherent within each stage. This approach has allowed me to recognize that the data is not abstract and that we can make an expression and communicate through it as designers. “The unique capacity of a designer is the ability to dismantle existing communication codes and to recombine some of their elements into structures which can be used to generate new narratives of the world.” (Noble. I. & Bestley. R., 2011).

Daniel Iván Jiménez, 2023

References

Noble, I., & Bestley, R. (2011). Visual research: An introduction to research methodologies in graphic design. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Lupi, G. (2017). Data Humanism – A Visual Manifesto, Available at http://giorgialupi.com/data-humanismmy-manifesto-for-a-new-data-wold, Accessed 15/1/2023.

L, Gitelman. (2013). Raw data is an Oxymoron. The MIT Press.

Lupton, E., & Phillips, J. C. (2011). Graphic design thinking. Princeton Architectural Press.

D'Ignazio, C., & Klein, L. F. (2020). Feminist Data Visualization.

︎

Designer Practice at UAL

Ethnicity in London