[No Lecture]

Week 7

Monday March 19th, 2024

A little purple fuzzy monster wearing a backpack stands just before a drawbridge, leading to a castle covered in flowers and confetti, with flags that say 'R' and 'Hi Friend!' flapping in the wind. A crow wearing a party hat is perched on a welome sign the start of the bridge and says 'SQUAAWK YOU CAN DO IT!'. A green fuzzy monster with a party hat stands on the opposite end of the bridge, in front of the castle, with it's arms outstretched.

Artwork by Allison Horst

Pre-class Prep

NA

Lecture Materials

There is no lecture this week!

Discussion Materials

Pre-discussion Prep

HW #3 has you working on your visualizations for your final project (HW #4). Please plan to bring the following to discussion:

  • one of your three visualizations (i.e. one of the three required viz for option 1, or one of the three viz that will make up your infographic for option 2)
  • the question that you’re trying to answer with your visualization

Add your visualization and your question to the appropriate Google slide deck (each slide is labeled with a name) before section begins:

The viz you bring should meet the HW #3 requirements (see the section that begins with “Mock up your visualizations using code…”) – this should be a well-constructed, carefully thought-through and polished plot (any one of the panels in the Hollywood Age Gaps visualization that you saw in discussion last week is a great example of the level of “polish” we’d expect to see). You should be prepared to discuss your design choices and receive constructive feedback from your peers.

How to give / receive feedback

Giving, receiving and implementing feedback is an important part of any creative process (including building data visualizations!). There are two “levels” of feedback:

  • high-level: where the focus is on whether a data visualization is accurate, relevant and understandable for the intended audience
  • detail-oriented: where the focus is on aesthetics choices (e.g. colors, typefaces, layout, themes, white space, etc.) and how those choices help to enhance / tell the story This week, you should focus largely on providing high-level feedback (though suggestions on how to tweak the details of a visualization are welcome).

For giving feedback:

  • focus on the strengths / weakness of the visualization itself, not the person who created it
  • balance positive and negative feedback, and start with the positives!
  • stay objective when suggesting improvements (e.g. “This part might benefit from some clarity…”)
  • suggest actionable solutions and / or alternatives, rather than only problems or criticisms

For receiving feedback:

  • receiving feedback can be stressful – this is a very normal feeling!
  • listen carefully without disrupting / defending yourself
  • take notes, ask questions, and thank your feedback giver(s)
  • evaluate your feedback objectively to decide what to keep / reject / modify

For applying feedback:

  • prioritize feedback based on relevance, importance, and feasibility
  • create a plan and a timeline to implement
  • critically evaluate / compare your before and after versions
  • seek new feedback!

Supplementary resources

Assignment Reminders

Assignment Type Assignment Title Date Assigned Date Due
HW Homework Assignment #3 Mon 02/12/2024 Sat 02/24/2024, 11:59pm PT