I couldn’t agree more with one of the last post of Nathan in FlowingData:
“Basically, what I’m trying to say is that design can do wonders for visualization, yes, but so can analysis. Put the two together, and you’re going to gain a much better understanding of a dataset than if you were to have just [...]

According to the article of Veronique Greenwood in SEED Magazine about data visualization, complication is the problem, and interaction is the solution: “One way to solve the problem of overly complicated diagrams is to introduce interactivity.” Interactivity is also a way to escape the flatness of certain maps: “interactive displays may be much more useful [...]

Sustainability message , originally uploaded by Samuel Mann.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/densitydesign/3285286273/comment72157614123805408

Just used in a class about interactivity and engagement (and sneaking a dose of sustainability). Thanks folks.

Who are the poor? Poverty is neither a number nor an index. It cannot be reduced to a line that divides those who are above and those who are below establishing a unique space for social exclusion. Poverty is a multidimensional and complex phenomenon. Its reduction to a unique representation can generate distorted visions of the phenomenon and create ineffective or counterproductive interventions.

Another step forward: one of the (art?)works done by our students has been chosen to illustrate an article in The Morning News. The title of the article is Mindfuck movies, and talks about understanding and explaining, especially when it comes to Memento, the subject of our exercise. Understanding and explaining: that’s DensityDesign!

Often love affairs are instable, fleeting and unpredictable. It seems emotions change in a chaotic way. On this assumptions some mathematicians recently modeled a love relationship in terms of dynamic system. One of the case study of this kind of works is Jules et Jim, the autobiographical novel of Henri Pierre Roché and his cinematographic [...]

It’s a big pleasure to spread the link to a very recent work of Samuel Granados Lopez. He was part of the Density Design family as a student, and graduated here at Politecnico di Milano – Faculty of Design in 2008 with a Master thesis project titled “Infographics as a tool for social communication: a [...]

Since the main issue of the Density Design Lab 2008-2009 is poverty, we will encourage our student to join this challenge.

Economic statistic concerns understanding complex, multidimensional, ambiguous and dynamic phenomena building formal representations (models) based on statistical data. Communication Design addresses complex phenomena to interact with them building multi-dimensional visual representations based (in some cases) on statistical data.
The DensityDesign Lab approach, partially modified despite past editions, tries to foster this alliance in order to explore socio-economic phenomena that present both representational and visual problems. In fact they could be:
complex;

* multidimensional;
* dynamic and evolutionary;
* not numerically measurable if not qualitatively;
* ambiguous and fuzzy;
* not dichotomous;
* of great impact on people and society.

The goal is to contribute to the construction of representation and visualization model respecting and preserving the inner structure of the analyzed phenomena, allowing users to know (see) them as a whole. This is not primarily a design issue, but an epistemological one; the aspect of visual representation and communication is only one part of a bigger topic. The broader aim is helping in build a cognitive process that integrates and combines different disciplines and skills.

Density Design Lab, Knowledgecartography.org and ovrflw, under the nom de plume Writing Acamenic English, are proud to annouce that Murmur is one of the selected project for VISUALIZAR’08: DATABASE CITY.