Logically, users are after numbers, because that where the core information is. Why is there a need to visualize the data?
It seems like there is a purely visual mechanism that helps us to understand data in a different way when we look at the image, as compared to just the display of numbers, - a new meaning appears.
Austrian philosopher of science Otto Neurath was famous for his passion of collecting various curiosities. Here's some of the things he was interested in:
source: Neurath, O., From Hieroglyphics to Isotype: A Visual Autobiography, 2010
Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoopraxiscope
Esat
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Gothic infographic by Adam Frost and me on The Guardian books - 70K views within 5 days! Plus 10K Facebook shares and 500 Tweets. Is it a lot, though?..
Field experiment: a drawing which has taken the same time to do as the photograph.
Photo courtesy: Daniil Alexandrov
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology_of_art
Charcoal and sanguine
Production: Adam Frost, Rosie Roche, Gabriela VieruDevelopment: Matt Bentley Design and illustrations are by me.
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