ABSTRACT
We are wonderfully competent visual processors. Modern life, however, delivers a new invention for us to consider: data. With data, we search for patterns such as normality, trends, and relationships, and we search for exceptions from these patterns. Examine rows and columns of data to uncover this information? Our distant ancestors never encountered tables of data, so our brains never adapted to evaluate data directly. The solution? We return to our familiar form: visual images. To visualize data, we use computer technology to transform rows and columns of data into visible objects. We perceive these objects according to their visual aesthetics. Visual aesthetics focus our perception on emergent patterns inherent in the data. The instructions for creating these visualizations found throughout this book provide pleasing aesthetics by default. The resulting visualizations may also be customized to further accentuate the visible patterns and relationships.
