Generative Design Inspiration for Glyphs with Diatoms.

Matthew Brehmer,Robert Kosara,Carmen Hull

doi:10.1109/tvcg.2021.3114792

Matthew Brehmer, Robert Kosara + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1109/tvcg.2021.3114792

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Abstract

We introduce Diatoms, a technique that generates design inspiration for glyphs by sampling from palettes of mark shapes, encoding channels, and glyph scaffold shapes. Diatoms allows for a degree of randomness while respecting constraints imposed by columns in a data table: their data types and domains as well as semantic associations between columns as specified by the designer. We pair this generative design process with two forms of interactive design externalization that enable comparison and critique of the design alternatives. First, we incorporate a familiar small multiples configuration in which every data point is drawn according to a single glyph design, coupled with the ability to page between alternative glyph designs. Second, we propose a small permutables design gallery, in which a single data point is drawn according to each alternative glyph design, coupled with the ability to page between data points. We demonstrate an implementation of our technique as an extension to Tableau featuring three example palettes, and to better understand how Diatoms could fit into existing design workflows, we conducted interviews and chauffeured demos with 12 designers. Finally, we reflect on our process and the designers' reactions, discussing the potential of our technique in the context of visualization authoring systems. Ultimately, our approach to glyph design and comparison can kickstart and inspire visualization design, allowing for the serendipitous discovery of shape and channel combinations that would have otherwise been overlooked.

Highlights

Inspiration for novel visualization design can come from many sources
The first is a familiar small multiples configuration in which every data point is drawn according to the same design specification (Figure 1-right), coupled with the ability to page between alternative glyph designs
With Diatoms, we address this missing step in visualization construction by providing design inspiration via a sampling-based process coupled with a comparative display of design alternatives, albeit with a focus on glyph-based visualization

Summary

Introduction

We present a novel technique for drawing inspiration from the data itself, revealed through the use of a generative design process in combination with interactive design externalization. Whether the goal is to realize mash-ups of existing chart types or to draw xenographics (“weird but (sometimes) useful charts” [44]), the output of these authoring tools typically serves a specific communicative intent [41], where transferability of the output to other datasets is not as critical as novelty and memorability [11] This communicative intent stands in contrast to those of other visualization construction environments [28] where the output is to be used for analyzing data and should generalize across datasets and use cases. We distinguish inspiration from recommendation, in that we associate the former with a desire to produce a novel visualization for satisfying a communicative intent, while the latter addresses analytical intents, exemplified by projects like Show Me [50] and Voyager [86]

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Discussion

Conclusion