A Didactic Methodology for Crafting Information Visualizations

Finding or creating the right information visualization solution that meets design goals can be a very challenging task, not only for students but also for visualization experts. In this paper, we introduce a didactic methodology for designing interactive visualizations through hands-on activities. Our approach can assist students and anyone interested in crafting, ranking, and improving new visualization solutions. The suggested approach follows divergent and convergent thinking that motivates designing several low-fidelity prototypes, discussing pros and cons of each in groups, and improving the final solution by incorporating visual and perceptual principles. The methodology is described with teaching course examples for undergraduate and graduate students. We also list observations made when applying the methodology online and offline along with gathered student feedback.