Capstone — Week 8

A Physical Visualization Exploration

Prototype Production Continued

In the “Week 7” posting I left off with the data language and design development for the physical visualization prototype. Once I had that in place the next steps roughly followed.

1. Head to the Emerging Media Lab on campus — I was ready to start cutting the tiles with the Cricut Maker. The prototype would require several hundred tiles, some more detailed than others including a combination of score lines and cuts purposely part of the data language but also to inject more visual interest.
2. Update the Circuit design templates—the intricate designs posed a couple of issues. First, they were catching on the cutter and paper was being ruined. And the time for one sheet (I needed at least 15 sheets) to be completed was exorbitant. I was on deadline using a shared tool. So, I decided to modify all the templates that took hours to design. But this would cut some production time and minimize growing pains.
3. Cutting, cutting and more cutting—and so it went. While the Cricut was cutting a sheet, I was setting up blank sheets for the next round, modifying templates by removing countless score lines, and oh, how can I forget the hundreds upon hundreds of little tiny little bits of paper that I needed to pop out of the cuts. So the process went on for hours. And finally…
4. Magic time—it was time to pull it all together on the board. I insisted on getting this done in one sitting. And the day turned into night which turned into after midnight and then some, but I was tenacious. I wanted to see this all together, like eagerly tearing off the paper on a present. And then it was done.

Here are a few pics from the process.

Cricut template closeup. Each tile design set includes original with cut and score lines and alternative with only cut lines. The scoring details were removed to help minimize time and errors.

(L-R) 1. Tile with score and cut lines. 2. Same as first but with excess removed and details in shape. 3. Tile without score lines.

Using the Cricut Maker paper cutter

The Physical Prototype

Here it is, the prototype. I intentionally made a miniature for lack of space, but I would have loved to see this larger than life. It is a rough representation with more to follow.

The 2D relief heatmap prototype.

Each column represents a month, starting with January 2020 (far left) and ending with December 2021 (far right). Each tile represents a practice on the mat in that month. The colors vary depending on the level or type of practice. The top left corner is the time of day of practice and the tiles with petal-like forms are a specific yoga instructor.

Closeups of the 2D relief heatmap prototype

After presenting this, and thinking about the process and rough prototype, I would like to have liked to have played with larger tiles to allow for more data points and/or potentially more detail.

Larger tiles may have faired better in the Circut allowing to keep all the scoring details which provided more information and visual interest. It was pointed out that adding lines to the time of day symbols would have read better. The scoring that I removed would have provided that.

I need to develop a color palette. I used low-end paper on hand to cut costs for this first physical iteration. The color palette in part may reflect the individual whose data is being represented while also adding to the language.

The larger size of the petal-like shape was questioned. This was important for me. The larger size was made initially to add volume and in part to emphasize this data point. But is that larger representation fair or correct? To do so just to add volume may be misleading. So I need to think about this a bit further.

Additional Next Steps

I would like to refine and expand the data language symbolism, and explore more sculptural shapes for both the data language and the tiles to create more depth and dynamic visual interest. I would like to give purpose to the empty space at the ends of columns. And I would like to explore color palettes, different mediums and the inclusion of additional data.

Alternatively, I continue to think about versions for the audience to physically interact with or develop their own visualizations. Over the next several weeks, I will continue to explore form and create physical prototypes. We shall see.