Aesthetics in Information Visualization

The importance of visualization in conveying knowledge is undisputed. For example, the rise and fall of stocks is processed and understood faster by examining the corresponding line graph than looking at the raw underlying numbers. For the effectiveness of this cognitive process several factors have been identified in research, like for example the background knowledge, as well as its inherent aesthetics qualities. This text focuses on the latter. It has been argued that the higher the aesthetic value of the visualization is, the more engaged the viewer is in trying to decode its meaning. But what does “aesthetics” mean? Does an informative graphic have to be artistic to be effective? Since the perception of aesthetics is a highly subjective matter, what kind of effort should be put into creating a visualization? What connections between aesthetics and information visualization exist anyway? These questions are the subject of the following text. It starts with an introduction to the relevant terms and subfields of aesthetic information visualization research. It then proceeds with a discussion of several examples of information visualization that were created with a strong aesthetic concern. Since these results often resemble works of art, finally their artistic value is debated.