Information Visualization : Optimizing Design for Human Perception

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 that optimize how visual information is perceived-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. Features • Brings current scientific insight to the study of data visualization. • Explains multiple facets of visual perception: color, organization, space, motion, texture, and the relationship between images and words. • Explores strategies for designing glyphs and icons to optimize a GUI's effectiveness and ease of use. • Examines the distinctions between word-based and image-based perception and develops guidelines for choosing between verbal and graphical communication approaches. • Presents successful techniques for displaying geographical and other data in multiple layers. • Offers rules for designing easily navigable data spaces in VRML. • Supports points with numerous illustrations, including over thirty color images.