Data Visualization

Data Visualization 

For this project, also created for my Visual Communications course, we were asked to create a graphical representation of numerical data to develop skills in data analysis and information design.

This map depicts the total amount of homicides by gunfire reported in Canada in 2007. It compares the amount of deaths by province, with Ontario having the highest rate of mortality due to gunshot. The information needed to create this map was retrieved from the Statistics Canada website (Statistics Canada, 2007). The visualization of deaths makes it possible to comprehend inferential statistics for those who are not sufficient in reading numerical data. Visualizing data is effective because humans are able to recognize patterns faster than numbers with our eyes; sight is the fastest sense that we possess (personal communication, March 2, 2011). By glancing quickly at this map, it is easy to comprehend that the death rate due to gunfire in Ontario is higher than in BC. 

To create this data visualization I began with a blank map of Canada and the statistical information retrieved from Stats Canada. The multiple provinces, as well as the different numbers of deaths by gun shot represent a multivariate analysis (Tufte, n.d.). Each province is separated from the others by lines, and the blood splatter appears within these lines, which represents Few’s concept of enclosure; “Objects that appear to have a boundary around them (e.g., formed by a line or area of common color) are perceived as a group” (Few, 2010). 

 Using Photoshop, I created blood splatter to represent the deaths; the provinces with more blood splatter had higher mortality rates due to gunfire, while those with no blood splatter had no reported deaths. To show causality (Tufte, n.d.) I included images of guns in each province that had a mortality rate due to gunfire. The chart on the right hand side of the map of Canada, which contains the actual numbers of gunshot wounds per province, was how I integrated the evidence using words and numbers (Tufte, n.d.). 

In order to create a blood splatter effect in Photoshop I followed the directions of an online tutorial (V Tutorial, 2006). I began with a blank map of Canada, which I then colour grey using the paint bucket tool in order to create a more realistic blood colour, as a white background made the red look too light. I then created new layers for each of the ten provinces and three territories. Starting with the province with the largest amount of deaths by gunfire and moving sequentially to that with the smallest, I followed these steps: 

1. Select paintbrush tool and set brush size to splatter 59 pixels 
2. Select Brush Properties and “Shape Dynamics” option. Set Size Jitter to 100%, Control to “Pen Pressure,” Minimum Diameter to 1%, Angle Jitter to 100%, Control to “Off,” Roundness Jitter to 100%, Control to “Off,” and Minimum Roundness to 25%. 
3. Still in Brush Properties select “Scattering” option and set Scatter to 142%
4. Set Foreground Colour to #892121
5. Set Opacity to 52% and Flow to 55%
6. Select whichever province layer I was working on at the time and duplicate it
7. Apply brush to duplicated layer – colour the most blood splatter in the province that has the highest mortality rate due to gunshot wound and work your way down
8. Change the duplicated Layer Blending Mode to “Multiply”
9. Create a new set and drag both province layers into set
10. Change the set Blending Mode to Colour Burn 
11. Repeat as appropriate for each province

I then placed the completed map of Canada into an 8.5x11 InDesign document and added in a title, byline, and the numerical data attained from Stats Canada. I also titled the map and placed images of a compass and Canadian flag.  

In order to create this design I used Tufte’s “Fundamental Principles of Analytical Design”. Though I came up with the map idea on my own, I validated my idea by viewing the different data visualizations provided in the Resources folder of our class website (Resources, 2011). 

Resources 

Canadian Flag Image. (2011). Lance’s love/hate relationship with Canada. Retrieved March 6 2011 from http://piercedbyalance.com/conversations/lances-lovehate-relationship-with-canada/

Compass Image. (2011). Lesson map Vocabulary. Retrieved March 6 2011 from studyzone.org: http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ss5/d/mapvocab.cfm

Few, Stephen (2010). Encyclopedia entry on Data Visualization for Human Perception. Retrieved March 8 2011 from Interaction-Design.org: http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/data_visualization_for_human_perception.html\

Gun Image. (2010). Gun outline. Retrieved March 6 2011 from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gun_outline.svg?uselang=de

Resources. (2011). Index of cmns/courses/2011/325/Resources/data visualization. Retrieved March 2 2011 from www.sfu.ca: http://www.sfu.ca/cmns/courses/2011/325/Resources/data%20visualization/

Statistics Canada. (2007). Deaths and mortality rate, by selected grouped causes, sex and geography. Retrieved March 3 2011 from Statscan.gc.ca: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/84f0209x/2007000 /tablesectlist-listetableauxsect-eng.htm

Tufte. (n.d.). The fundamental principles of analytical design. 

V Tutorial. (2006). Creating blood splatter in Photoshop. Retrieved March 4 2011 from vtutorial.com: http://www.vtutorial.com/videos/Adobe_Photoshop/Creating_Blood_Splatter_in_Photoshop