Information Visualization Books

Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data

Stephen Few

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 42 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Dashboards have become popular in recent years as uniquely powerful tools for communicating important information at a glance. Although dashboards are potentially powerful, this potential is rarely realized. The greatest display technology in the world won't solve this if you fail to use effective visual design. And if a dashboard fails to tell you precisely what you need to know in an instant, you'll never use it, even if it's filled with cute gauges, meters, and traffic lights. Don't let your investment in dashboard technology go to waste.

This book will teach you the visual design skills you need to create dashboards that communicate clearly, rapidly, and compellingly. "Information Dashboard Design" will explain how to:

Avoid the thirteen mistakes common to dashboard design

Provide viewers with the information they need quickly and clearly

Apply what we now know about visual perception to the visual presentation of information

Minimize distractions, cliches, and unnecessary embellishments that create confusion

Organize business information to support meaning and usability

Create an aesthetically pleasing viewing experience

Maintain consistency of design to provide accurate interpretation

Optimize the power of dashboard technology by pairing it with visual effectiveness

Stephen Few has over 20 years of experience as an IT innovator, consultant, and educator. As Principal of the consultancy Perceptual Edge, Stephen focuses on data visualization for analyzing and communicating quantitative business information. He provides consulting and training services, speaks frequently at conferences, and teaches in the MBA program at the University ofCalifornia in Berkeley. He is also the author of "Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten," Visit his website at www.perceptualedge.com.

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

Edward R. Tufte

List Price: $40.00 By: Graphics Press Amazon Marketplace: 70 new & used starting at $11.21

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 96 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Easy and fun to read 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I was able to read this fairly quickly. (stealing a few hours here and there at work).

Although I did not find any direct solutions to my current problems - it definitely opened my imagination to consider new possibilities.

Masterpiece of graphic design proves timeless and universal 5 out of 5 stars.
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I returned to Tufte's first classic book of graphic design principles over 20 years after first discovering it. At the time, I was the corporate librarian for a major electric utility, and the explosion in the organization and creation of information by individuals with new personal-computer hardware and software was just beginning (I had an IBM PC-XT with 640Kb of RAM and two 360k floppies--no hard drive).

Now, I wondered, aside from the masterpiece of graphic design that "Visual Display" of course still represents, did Tufte's theories of graphics design still apply in a world where those computers at our fingertips pack the power and sophistication of the best publishing equipment? The answer is yes: Tufte's guidelines are timeless and universal, and most of his examples predate the computer era and even the 20th century.

The guidelines boil down to the single principle of making design choices that result in the simplest possible display of complex data. While that may not sound profound, Tufte provides simple and practical rules for implementing sound design choices, and the resulting improvements in your documents and web designs will be noticeable.

Editorial Review:

A timeless classic in how complex information should be presented graphically. The Strunk & White of visual design. Should occupy a place of honor--within arm's reach--of everyone attempting to understand or depict numerical data graphically. The design of the book is an exemplar of the principles it espouses: elegant typography and layout, and seamless integration of lucid text and perfectly chosen graphical examples. Very Highly Recommended.

Visual Function: An Introduction to Information Design

Paul Mijksenaar

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

A manifesto and a paradox, sort of. 4 out of 5 stars.
14 of 15 people found this review helpful.

This small, profusely illustrated book is, well, a personal manifesto against bad informational design. Mijksenaar does not take prisoners: his case studies (of bad design) include glitches by some of the most prominent dutch designers. Healthy, very healthy. There are some surprises, especially if your infodesign paradigm is the London underground map. The book is also a paradox, though, in that it is itself badly designed. By that I don't mean the shape, color, printing, which are pretty, but its logical content structure, which is confusing. Because it is more of a (needed) rant against bad info design, I call it a manifesto. It is an optimistic manifesto, and Visual Function is well worth reading, if only because US designers would profit from getting to know their their dutch counterparts better.

Editorial Review:

Visual Function: An Introduction to Information Design presents and discusses a variety of graphics used in transmitting information, analyzing signs, graphs, and charts through a method similar to that found in Edward Tufte's books (Envisioning Information and The Visual Display of Quantitative Information), which have had an enormous influence on today's graphic designers. With copious color and black-and-white illustrations, this book examines airplane safety cards, street maps, road signs, instruction booklets, corporate logos, subway guides, magazine advertisements, cookbooks, computer diagrams, and car manuals, all as a means of explaining how information can be conveyed without words.

Paul Mijksenaar is a professor at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. He is the author of numerous publications on design.

Information Visualization, Second Edition: Perception for Design (Interactive Technologies)

Colin Ware

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Most designers know that yellow text presented against a blue background reads clearly and easily, but how many can explain why? Information Visualization: Perception for Design explores the art and science of why we see objects the way we do.

Although more technical than most graphic design books, the book "is intended to make [the data from the science and study of visualization] available to the non-specialist." Each chapter focuses on a different facet of human vision, like "Lightness, Brightness, Contrast, and Constancy" in chapter 3, or "Static and Moving Patterns" in chapter 4.

Although the author tries to put a great deal of scientific research data into pedestrian terms, the nature of the subject matter and the papers from which he culls his information make this task an uphill battle from the start. As a result, the book is full of valuable information, but it may not necessarily be right for the average graphic designer looking for a new inspirational spin. Serious interface designers, presentation designers, data analyzers, or any artist tasked with presenting ideas in a visual format, though, should come away from Information Visualization with a clearer understanding of the inner workings of perception. At the very least, they'll be able to explain why yellow text against blue is a good combination. --Mike Caputo

Visualizing Information with Microsoft® Office Visio® 2007

David J. Parker

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Create and distribute data-connected Microsoft Office Visio diagrams and reports

Get full details on the powerful features of Microsoft Office Visio 2007 inside this comprehensive volume. Written by Visio expert David Parker, Visualizing Information with Microsoft Office Visio 2007 demonstrates how to effectively visualize, explore, and communicate complex business information. Learn to use PivotDiagrams, Data Graphics, and Smart Tags, as well as link data to shapes and create meaningful Visio documents and reports. Plus, you'll get vital security information, time-saving tips, troubleshooting techniques, and downloadable macros and code samples.

Essential Skills for Database Users and Professionals

• Create shapes and link them to data
• Summarize and analyze information using PivotDiagrams
• Use Data Graphics, Smart Tags, and SmartShapes to reinforce information
• Generate robust Excel, HTML, and XML reports
• Create custom, reusable templates, stencils, and masters
• Update and enhance diagrams with Reviewer's comments and markups
• Integrate Visio diagrams with other Windows applications
• Publish and securely distribute Visio documents and summaries
• Extend functionality using VBA macros, add-ins, and wrapper applications

Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think (Interactive Technologies)

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This collection of classic and ground-breaking papers explores the issues involved in information visualization--thought versus perception, mental process versus graphic representation. In Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think, visualization is defined as "the use of computer-supported, interactive, visual representations of data to amplify cognition."

The papers are organized into the categories of "Space," "Interaction," "Focus + Context," "Data Mapping: Document Visualization," "Infosphere, Workspace, Tools, and Objects," and "Using Vision to Think." Subcategories are divided into the following:

• 1-D, 2-D, and 3-D structures
• Multiple dimensions
• Trees
• Networks
• Dynamic queries
• Interactive analysis
• Fisheye views
• Alternate geometry
• Text in various dimensions
• The Internet
• Information workspaces
• Visually enhanced objects

Discussions of the applications for and implications of visualization processes complete the book. Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think is targeted at research professionals in academia and industry; students new to the field; and professionals in statistics, information design, and medicine. The papers should be of particular interest to specialists in any area in which discovering the relationships between data and its visual representation is critical. --Kathleen Caster

Visualizing Information Using SVG and X3D

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Editorial Review:

This is the first book devoted to both SVG and X3D as a new and universal means of visualizing information. It presents the state-of-the-art research emerging in this novel area and introduces SVG and X3D fundamentals and leading authoring tools. The key topics covered include: - The foundations of SVG and X3D - Data, information, knowledge and network visualization - Advanced and distributed user interfaces - Visualizing metadata and the Semantic Web - Visual interfaces to Web services - New trends and paradigms in publishing and Interactive TV - Displaying geographically referenced data and chemical structures - Advanced use of Adobe Illustrator and X3D-Edit authoring tools This book will be essential reading not only for researchers, Web developers and graduate students but also for undergraduates and everyone who is interested in using the next-generation computer graphics on their websites.

Planning Support Systems: Integrating Geographic Information Systems, Models, and Visualization Tools

Richard Brail, Richard Klosterman

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Editorial Review:

The integration of community concerns with GIS technologies has had the effect of bringing community planners and designers together at the planning table. Planners no longer plan for the people in the communities, they plan with them. With planning support software, citizen planners can move buildings from block to block, tear them down, build complete subdivisions, run new highways in and around town, analyze any number of scenarios, and see with their own eyes the consequences of each action. This reference offers new possibilities and discusses the most important aspects of computer-aided land-use planning. Topics covered include urban modeling, simulation and scenario construction, collaborative planning, and visualization.

Information Visualization: Human-Centered Issues and Perspectives (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)

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Editorial Review:

This book is the outcome of the Dagstuhl Seminar on "Information Visualization -- Human-Centered Issues in Visual Representation, Interaction, and Evaluation" held at Dagstuhl Castle, Germany, from May 28 to June 1, 2007. Information Visualization (InfoVis) is a relatively new research area, which focuses on the use of visualization techniques to help people understand and analyze data. This book documents and extends the findings and discussions of the various sessions in detail. The seven contributions cover the most important topics: Part I is on general reflections on the value of information visualization; evaluating information visualizations; theoretical foundations of information visualization; teaching information visualization. Part II deals with specific aspects on creation and collaboration: engaging new audiences for information visualization; process and pitfalls in writing information visualization research papers; and visual analytics: definition, process, and challenges.

Visualizing the Semantic Web: XML-based Internet and Information Visualization

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Web has evolved from HTML quite dramatically over the last few years with revolutionary techniques for content and structural modeling, including XML (eXtensible Markup Language), OWL (Web Ontology Language), RDF (Resource Definition Framework) and Topic Maps. Compared to HTML, the content of XML documents is enriched with semantic and structural features, completely separated from its visual appearance. This allows a web document to be displayed in any desired form. Given such an unrestricted choice, many companies and end users prefer a graphically rich document appearance with effective visual access to semantic and structural information.

The first edition of Visualizing the Semantic Web: XML-based Internet and Information Visualization, published in 2002, was the first ever monograph on the visualization of the emerging new generation of the Web. The current second edition has undergone the following changes: 2 chapters have been removed, 4 new chapters have been added and the 10 remaining chapters have been completely revised and updated. The current edition of the book presents the state-of-the-art research in the emerging field and focuses on key topics such as:

• Visualization of semantic and structural information and metadata
• Exploring and querying XML documents using interactive multimedia interfaces
• Topic Maps visualizations
• Visual modeling of XML/RDF/OWL ontologies and schemas
• Rendering and viewing of XML documents
• SVG/X3D as new visualization techniques for the Semantic Web
• Methods used to construct high quality metadata / metadata taxonomies
• Recommender systems, interface issues related to filtering and recommending on the Web
• Semantic-oriented use of existing visualization methods
• Web services, e-commerce and web search applications
• Semantically enhanced solutions for the medical community

The design of XML-based interfaces for information retrieval, e-commerce etc is currently a challenging area of practical web development. Most of the techniques and methods discussed can be applied now, making this book essential reading for XML and Web developers as well as visualization researchers.