Using Typography to Expand the Design Space of Data Visualization

• The design space of data visualization can be expanded with typography.
• Cross-disciplinary research is used to frame the use of type in data visualization.
• New types of typographic visualizations are designed and evaluated in this expanded design space.
• Expert critiques are used to evaluate the design space and supplement evaluations of individual techniques.

This article is a systematic exploration and expansion of the data visualization design space focusing on the role of text. A critical analysis of text usage in data visualizations reveals gaps in existing frameworks and practice. A cross-disciplinary review including the fields of typography, cartography, and coding interfaces yields various typographic techniques to encode data into text, and provides scope for an expanded design space. Mapping new attributes back to well understood principles frames the expanded design space and suggests potential areas of application. From ongoing research created with our framework, we show the design, implementation, and evaluation of six new visualization techniques. Finally, a broad evaluation of a number of visualizations, including critiques from several disciplinary experts, reveals opportunities as well as areas of concern, and points towards additional research with our framework.