Press Release
Visualization is the graphic presentation of data — portrayals meant to reveal complex information at a glance. Think of the familiar map of the New York City subway system, or a diagram of the human brain. Indeed, the most successful visualizations are beautiful not only for their aesthetic design, but also for elegant layers of detail that efficiently generate insight and new understanding.
In Beautiful Visualization (O’Reilly Media, $59.99 USD), two dozen experts — including Nick Bilton, lead technology writer for the New York Times Bits Blog, and Jessica Hagy, writer, speaker, and consultant — demonstrate how they approach projects from a variety of disciplines. Together, these artists, designers, commentators, scientists, analysts, statisticians, and more show you what’s possible with this medium, and how you can use it to make sense of the world.
“These are not your parents’ bar graphs and pie charts,” declares co-editor Julie Steele. “The contributors to Beautiful Visualizationtake you behind the scenes of their recent projects to share tips, techniques, and cautionary tales for turning data into design. You’ll never look at infographics the same way again.”
With Beautiful Visualization: Looking at Data through the Eyes of Experts, you will:
– Explore the importance of storytelling with a simple visualization exercise
– Learn how color conveys information that our brains recognize before we’re fully aware of it
– Discover how the books we buy and the people we associate with reveal clues to our deeper selves
– Recognize a method to the madness of air travel with a visualization of civilian air traffic
– Find out how researchers investigate unknown phenomena, from initial sketches to published papers
This article was last modified on January 18, 2023
This article was first published on June 25, 2010
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