Information Visualization, Second Edition: Perception for Design

This is the first book to combine a strictly scientific approach to human perception with a practical concern for the rules governing the effective visual presentation of information. Surveying the research of leading psychologists and neurophysiologists, the author isolates key principles at work in vision and perception, and from them, derives specific, effective visualization techniques, suitable for a wide range of scenarios. You can apply these principles in ways to optimize how others perceive visual information-resulting in improved clarity, utility, and persuasiveness. Likewise, you can apply them to your own exploratory data analyses to develop display strategies that make data patterns and their significance easier to discern. Information Visualization transcends the often-divergent approaches to visualization taken by individual disciplines. It will prove a fascinating, practical resource for anyone who uses graphical presentation as a key to successful analysis and communication: graphic artists, user interface/interaction designers, financial analysts, data miners, and managers faced with information-intensive challenges. TeamLiB......Page 1 Cover......Page 2 Contents......Page 7 Figure Credits......Page 17 Foreword......Page 19 Preface......Page 21 Preface to the First Edition......Page 23 CHAPTER 1 Foundation for a Science of Data Visualization......Page 29 Visualization Stages......Page 32 Experimental Semiotics Based on Perception......Page 33 Semiotics of Graphics......Page 34 Pictures as Sensory Languages......Page 36 Sensory versus Arbitrary Symbols......Page 38 Properties of Sensory and Arbitrary Representation......Page 41 Arbitrary Conventional Representations......Page 43 The Study of Arbitrary Conventional Symbols......Page 45 Stage 1: Parallel Processing to Extract Low-Level Properties of the Visual Scene......Page 48 Stage 2: Pattern Perception......Page 49 Stage 3: Sequential Goal-Directed Processing......Page 50 Relationships......Page 51 Attributes of Entities or Relationships......Page 52 Operations Considered as Data......Page 53 Metadata......Page 54 Conclusion......Page 55 CHAPTER 2 The Environment, Optics, Resolution, and the Display......Page 57 Ecological Optics......Page 58 Optical Flow......Page 60 Textured Surfaces and Texture Gradients......Page 61 The Paint Model of Surfaces......Page 63 The Eye......Page 66 The Visual Angle Defined......Page 68 The Lens......Page 69 Optics and Augmented-Reality Systems......Page 70 Chromatic Aberration......Page 73 Receptors......Page 74 Simple Acuities......Page 75 Acuity Distribution and the Visual Field......Page 78 Brain Pixels and the Optimal Screen......Page 81 Spatial Contrast Sensitivity Function......Page 85 The Optimal Display......Page 90 Aliasing......Page 91 Superacuities and Displays......Page 93 Temporal Requirements of the Perfect Display......Page 94 Conclusion......Page 95 CHAPTER 3 Lightness, Brightness, Contrast, and Constancy......Page 97 Neurons, Receptive Fields, and Brightness Illusions......Page 98 Simultaneous Brightness Contrast......Page 100 The Chevreul Illusion......Page 102 Contrast Effects and Artifacts in Computer Graphics......Page 103 Edge Enhancement......Page 105 Luminance, Brightness, Lightness, and Gamma......Page 108 Luminance......Page 109 Brightness......Page 111 Adaptation, Contrast, and Lightness Constancy......Page 112 Contrast and Constancy......Page 114 Perception of Surface Lightness......Page 115 Lightness Differences and the Gray Scale......Page 116 Monitor Illumination and Monitor Surrounds......Page 118 Conclusion......Page 121 CHAPTER 4 Color......Page 125 Trichromacy Theory......Page 126 Color Blindness......Page 127 Color Measurement......Page 128 Change of Primaries......Page 130 CIE System of Color Standards......Page 131 Chromaticity Coordinates......Page 132 Color Differences and Uniform Color Spaces......Page 136 Naming......Page 138 Unique Hues......Page 140 Properties of Color Channels......Page 141 Color Appearance......Page 144 Saturation......Page 145 Brown......Page 146 Application 1: Color Specification Interfaces and Color Spaces......Page 147 Application 2: Color for Labeling......Page 151 Application 3: Color Sequences for Data Maps......Page 155 Application 4: Color Reproduction......Page 166 Application 5: Color for Exploring Multidimensional Discrete Data......Page 168 Conclusion......Page 171 CHAPTER 5 Visual Attention and Information that Pops Out......Page 173 Useful Field of View......Page 174 Reading from the Iconic Buffer......Page 175 Preattentive Processing......Page 177 Coding with Combinations of Features......Page 182 Conjunctions with Spatial Dimensions......Page 183 Highlighting......Page 184 Designing a Symbol Set......Page 185 Neural Processing, Graphemes, and Tuned Receptors......Page 187 The Grapheme......Page 188 The Gabor Model and Texture in Visualization......Page 189 Tradeoffs in Information Density: An Uncertainty Principle......Page 191 Primary Perceptual Dimensions of Texture......Page 192 Generation of Distinct Textures......Page 194 Spatial-Frequency Channels, Orthogonality, and Maps......Page 195 Texture Resolution......Page 197 Other Dimensions of Visual Texture......Page 198 Texture Field Displays......Page 200 Glyphs and Multivariate Discrete Data......Page 204 Restricted Classification Tasks......Page 205 Speeded Classification Tasks......Page 206 Integral–Separable Dimension Pairs......Page 208 Monotonicity of Visual Attributes......Page 209 Multidimensional Discrete Data......Page 210 Stars, Whiskers, and Other Glyphs......Page 212 Conclusion......Page 213 CHAPTER 6 Static and Moving Patterns......Page 215 Proximity......Page 217 Similarity......Page 218 Continuity......Page 219 Symmetry......Page 220 Closure......Page 222 Figure and Ground......Page 224 More on Contours......Page 226 Perceiving Direction: Representing Vector Fields......Page 228 Comparing 2D Flow Visualization Techniques......Page 229 Perception of Transparency: Overlapping Data......Page 233 Pattern Learning......Page 234 The Grammar of Node–Link Diagrams......Page 238 The Grammar of Maps......Page 243 Patterns in Motion......Page 245 Form and Contour in Motion......Page 247 Moving Frames......Page 248 Expressive Motion......Page 249 Perception of Causality......Page 250 Perception of Animate Motion......Page 251 Enriching Diagrams with Simple Animation......Page 252 Conclusion......Page 253 CHAPTER 7 Visual Objects and Data Objects......Page 255 Image-Based Object Recognition......Page 256 Applications of Images in User Interfaces......Page 258 Silhouettes......Page 261 Faces......Page 265 The Object Display and Object-Based Diagrams......Page 267 The Geon Diagram......Page 269 Perceiving the Surface Shapes of Objects......Page 271 Spatial Cues for Representing Scalar Fields......Page 272 Integration of Cues for Surface Shape......Page 275 Interaction of Shading and Contour......Page 276 Guidelines for Displaying Surfaces......Page 280 Bivariate Maps: Lighting and Surface Color......Page 282 Integration......Page 283 Conclusion......Page 285 Depth Cue Theory......Page 287 Perspective Cues......Page 288 Pictures Seen from the Wrong Viewpoint......Page 291 Occlusion......Page 293 Cast Shadows......Page 294 Shape-from-Shading......Page 296 Structure-from-Motion......Page 297 Eye Convergence......Page 298 Stereoscopic Depth......Page 299 Problems with Stereoscopic Displays......Page 301 Making Effective Stereoscopic Displays......Page 302 Artificial Spatial Cues......Page 307 Depth Cues in Combination......Page 308 Task-Based Space Perception......Page 311 Tracing Data Paths in 3D Graphs......Page 312 Judging the Morphology of Surfaces and Surface Target Detection......Page 315 Patterns of Points in 3D Space......Page 316 Judging Relative Positions of Objects in Space......Page 317 Judging the Relative Movement of Self within the Environment......Page 318 Reaching for Objects......Page 319 Judging the......Page 320 The Aesthetic Impression of 3D Space (Presence)......Page 321 Conclusion......Page 322 Coding Words and Images......Page 325 The Nature of Language......Page 327 Visual and Spoken Language......Page 329 Images vs. Words......Page 331 Links between Images and Words......Page 334 Static Links......Page 335 Deixis......Page 337 Symbolic Gestures......Page 338 Visual Momentum in Animated Sequences......Page 339 Animated Visual Languages......Page 340 Conclusion......Page 343 CHAPTER 10 Interacting with Visualizations......Page 345 Choice Reaction Time......Page 346 2D Positioning and Selection......Page 347 Hover Queries......Page 348 Two-Handed Interaction......Page 349 Control Compatibility......Page 350 Vigilance......Page 352 Locomotion and Viewpoint Control......Page 353 Frames of Reference......Page 361 Map Orientation......Page 365 Focus, Context, and Scale......Page 366 Rapid Interaction with Data......Page 373 Conclusion......Page 377 CHAPTER 11 Thinking with Visualizations......Page 379 Visual Working Memory......Page 380 Visual Working Memory Capacity......Page 383 Rensink's Model......Page 390 Eye Movements......Page 391 Eye Movements, Search, and Monitoring......Page 392 Long-Term Memory......Page 394 Problem Solving with Visualizations......Page 398 Visual Problem Solving Processes......Page 399 Visual Query Construction......Page 400 The Pattern-Finding Loop......Page 401 Implications for Interactive Visualization Design......Page 402 Interfaces to Knowledge Structures......Page 407 Creative Problem Solving......Page 411 Conclusion......Page 413 APPENDIX A Changing Primaries......Page 415 APPENDIX B CIE Color Measurement System......Page 417 Research Goals......Page 421 Psychophysics......Page 422 Detection Methods......Page 423 Cognitive Psychology......Page 425 Testbench Application for Discovery......Page 426 Rating Scales......Page 427 Multidimensional Scaling......Page 428 Child Studies......Page 429 Experimenter Bias......Page 430 Combinatorial Explosion......Page 431 Getting Help......Page 432 Bibliography......Page 433 A......Page 479 B......Page 480 C......Page 481 D......Page 484 E......Page 486 F......Page 487 G......Page 488 I......Page 489 L......Page 491 M......Page 492 N......Page 493 O......Page 494 P......Page 495 R......Page 497 S......Page 498 T......Page 501 V......Page 503 W......Page 505 Z......Page 506 C......Page 507 H......Page 508 M......Page 509 S......Page 510 Z......Page 511 About the Author......Page 513 "This unique and essential guide to human visual perception and related cognitive principles will enrich courses on information visualization and empower designers to see their way forward. Ware's updated review of empirical research and interface design examples will do much to accelerate innovation and adoption of information visualization." Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland "Colin Ware is the perfect person to write this book, with a long history of prominent contributions to the visual interaction with machines and to information visualization directly. It goes a long way towards joining science to the practical design of information visualization systems." from the foreword by Stuart Card, PARC Most designers know that yellow text presented against a blue background reads clearly and easily, but how many can explain why, and what really are the best ways to help others and ourselves clearly see key patterns in a bunch of data? When we use software, access a web site, or view graphics, our understanding is greatly enhanced or impeded by the way information is presented. By explaining in detail how we think visually, this book provides guidance on how to construct effective interactive information displays. This book combines a strictly scientific approach to human perception with a practical concern for the rules governing the effective visual presentation of information. Surveying the research of leading psychologists and neurophysiologists, author Colin Ware isolates key principles at work in vision and perception, and from them derives specific and effective visualization techniques suitable for a wide range of scenarios. Information Visualization offers practical guidelines that can be applied by anyone, and covers all facets of visual perception: color, organization, space perception, motion, and texture. * Major revision of this classic work, with a new chapter on visual thinking, new sections on face perception and flow visualization, an appendix on how to evaluate visualizations,and a greatly expanded chapter on color and color sequences. *New to this edition is the full-color treatment throughout, to better display over 400 illustrations. *From a leading researcher in the field of human perception who has brought together, in a single resource, all current scientific insight into the question of data visualization. Information Visualization is the major revision of a classic work on information visualization. This book explores the art and science of why we see objects the way we do. Based on the science of perception and vision, the author presents the key principles at work for a wide range of applications - resulting in visualization of improved clarity, utility, and persuasiveness. This is the first work to use the science of perception to help serious designers and analysts optimize understanding and perception of their data visualizations. This unique and essential guide to human visual perception and related cognitive principles will enrich courses on information visualization and empower designers to see their way forward. Its updated review of empirical research and interface design examples will do much to accelerate innovation and adoption of information visualization. New to this edition are a new chapter on visual thinking, new sections on face perception and flow visualization, and a much-expanded chapter on color and color sequences. This book will appeal to interaction designers; graphic designers of all kinds (including web designers); financial analysts; research scientists and engineers; data miners; and managers faced with information-intensive challenges.•First work to use the science of perception to help serious designers and analysts optimize understanding and perception of their data visualizations.• Major revision of this classic work, with a new chapter on visual thinking, new sections on face perception and flow visualization, and a much expanded chapter on color and color sequences. •New to this edition is the full color treatment throughout, to better display over 400 illustrations. Most designers know that yellow text presented against a blue background reads clearly and easily, but how many can explain why, and what really are the best ways to help others and ourselves clearly see key patterns in a bunch of data?

This book explores the art and science of why we see objects the way we do. Based on the science of perception and vision, the author presents the key principles at work for a wide range of applications--resulting in visualization of improved clarity, utility, and persuasiveness. The book offers practical guidelines that can be applied by anyone: interaction designers, graphic designers of all kinds (including web designers), data miners, and financial analysts.

*First work to use the science of perception to help serious designers and analysts optimize understanding and perception of their data visualizations.

* Major revision of this classic work, with a new chapter on visual thinking, new sections on face perception and flow visualization, and a much expanded chapter on color and color sequences.

*New to this edition is the full color treatment throughout, to better display over 400 illustrations. Most designers know that yellow text presented against a blue background reads clearly and easily, but how many can explain why, and what really are the best ways to help others and ourselves clearly see key patterns in a bunch of data? This book explores the art and science of why we see objects the way we do. Based on the science of perception and vision, the author presents the key principles at work for a wide range of applications--resulting in visualization of improved clarity, utility, and persuasiveness. The book offers practical guidelines that can be applied by anyone: interaction designers, graphic designers of all kinds (including web designers), data miners, and financial analysts. \*First work to use the science of perception to help serious designers and analysts optimize understanding and perception of their data visualizations.\* Major revision of this classic work, with a new chapter on visual thinking, new sections on face perception and flow visualization, and a much expanded chapter on color and color sequences. \*New to this edition is the full color treatment throughout, to better display over 400 illustrations. This work brings together all scientific insight into the question of data visualization. It covers all facets of visual perception, including colour, organization, space, motion, and texture.