How can we use beauty to convey meaning, and form to guide function, in our communications? In this episode of the SWD podcast, Dr. Vidya Setlur and Bridget Cogley explore these questions with data storyteller Mike Cisneros. In their upcoming book Functional Aesthetics for Data Visualization, Vidya (the “academic”) and Bridget (the “practitioner”) explore the relationships among what we see, how we encode information, and what we mean. You’ll hear about the “bento box” model of organizing our information; how text, tone, register, and language affects our visualizations; how our relationship to food can inform what makes a communication effective; and how to go beyond “it depends” when considering the answers to challenging questions.

related links:

• Follow Vidya: Twitter (@vsetlur) | LinkedIn | Tableau Research
• Follow Bridget: Twitter (@WindsCogley) | LinkedIn | TableauFit blog
• Book: Functional Aesthetics for Data Visualization
• Article: Honoring Kelly Martin, including the “Birdstrike Redoux” visualization
• Article: The Ishango bone, an early mathematical tool
• Paper: “The medium is the message” by Marshall McLuhan
• Article: “Light vision” by Margaret Livingstone (regarding isoluminance in Monet)

Book: Mind in Motion by Barbara Tversky