Part 1 Due Week 2, September 8

Find an interesting static data visualization, print it, and bring it to class for discussion.

Part 2 Due Week 3, September 15

Find a recently published data visualization to redesign. Ideally, one published online in the past few weeks that cites a source for the data visualized. You do not need to use the one you brought in for part 1. An visualization published online is best so that you can easily provide a link to it in your blog post. You want to find a visualization that you feel does a poor job of representing its information clearly or has another problem you will aim to resolve.

Using the same data, create an improved visualization. Your redesign should be “from scratch”: don’t adjust the existing design, create a new one. In your redesign, focus on the meaning you want your visualization to convey. Your goal is to create a visualization that explains the data clearly and conveys the meaning you wish to highlight. If appropriate you may supplement the data with additional data from the same source or with data from another source for context. Your redesign should be a static graphic (not interactive, animated, or sculpted).

Create a blog post for this assignment containing the following: a link to the visualization you are redesigning, a low resolution preview of your redesign (474px wide will fit in your post nicely), a full resolution version of your redesign (a .pdf probably would be appropriate), and a write up (150-200 words) discussing the visualization, its problems, and how you addressed them in your redesign.