Detailed schedule
GDES-396 spring 2019 (David Ramos, American University Design)
ramos@american.edu · office hours
Introduction; Encoding data
- Introduction
Demo links: Last 30 days of rodent/insect control requests on Open Data DC
Reading
- Truthful Art ch. 1 (What We Talk About When We Talk About Visualization)
- As soon as you can, read Truthful Art ch. 2 (The Five Qualities of Great Visualizations)
Projects
- Start Encoding data exercise.
Filling in design/software skills
If you aren’t yet conversant with Illustrator, start watching the Lynda Illustrator Essential Training. (Log in to Lynda via AU Library.)
If you haven’t taken a type course, read through the “Letter” and “Text” sections of Ellen Lupton’s Thinking with Type site.
There is no deadline for completing this reading, but you will need the skills for the more complex class projects.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (no class)
Visualizing change; Workbench workflows
Reading
- Truthful Art ch. 5 (Basic Principles of Visualization)
Projects
- Encoding data exercise is due.
- Start Visualizing change exercise.
- Fill out class survey
In class
U.S. Navy ship force levels (ZIP) from Naval History and Heritage Command tables.
A note about typefaces
For this course, I strongly recommend that you choose well-designed, highly legible, fonts of the sort that you might use for setting body copy in a book. Fonts with loud voices will tend to interfere with the reader’s comprehension, and they leave you less room to address the more important design questions.
Free/open source suggestions: Source Sans Pro, IBM Plex, Barlow, Cormorant Garamond, Libre Caslon, and Libre Baskerville. (More libre fonts.)
Commercial suggestions: Adobe Minion, Adobe Garamond, Caslon, Frutiger, Trade Gothic, Franklin Gothic, Myriad, Meta, DIN, Helvetica, Jenson, Archer, Gotham, and Whitney.
Studio
Reading
- Truthful Art ch. 8 (Revealing Change)
Color intro; Studio
Reading
- Start watching the Lynda course on Illustrator’s visualization tools. There is no deadline, but you will want to be conversant with these tools, even if you choose to use other methods.
Mean, median, and distributions
In class
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Arts and Design Occupations
- AIGA/Aquent Survey of Design Salaries, 2014 (cf. past surveys)
- A List Apart “People Who Make Websites” survey, 2011
- AIGA Design Census 2017
- Design Census data, median/mean (ZIP)
- AIGA Design Census workflow in Workbench
Reading
- Truthful Art ch. 6 (Exploring Data with Simple Charts) and ch. 7 (Visualizing Distributions)
Studio
Projects
- Visualizing change is due.
- Start Salaries exercise.
Studio
Reading
- Truthful Art ch. 9 (Seeing Relationships)
Critique
Reading
- Truthful Art ch. 3 (The Truth Continuum)
Projects
- Salaries exercise is due.
- Start Visualization project.
Data wrangling
Reading
- Lynda Learning R course. Watch Intro and parts 1 and 2—skip “Reading Data from SPSS.” (Log in to Lynda via AU Library.)
Working with R/RStudio
Reading
- Learning R, part 3. (Log in to Lynda via AU Library.)
In class
Further R references
- An Introduction to R (documentation from R Project)
- R for Data Science, Data visualization (uses ggplot2)
- ggplot2
- Cookbook for R Graphs (simple recipes)
- Colors in R (PDF)
Studio/Critique
Reading
- Optional Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec, Dear Data project
Maps: scale, coordinate systems, and mapping with analog tools
Reading
- Truthful Art ch. 10 (Mapping Data)
In class
- Field mapping exercise. Meet on quad steps of Kerwin/Ward, prepared to spend class outside on campus. (Dress for the weather but bring a couple of extra layers.) Bring a notebook and writing implement.
Studio/Critique
Reading
- Robert Simmon, Subtleties of Color, parts 1 and 3
Maps: projections, data layers, and editing data in QGIS
Projects
- Visualization project is due.
Reading
- Gordon Luckett, Learning QGIS on Lynda, parts 1–4. (Log in to Lynda via AU Library.)
In class
- QGIS/GIS exercise (you will share your maps but do not need to turn them in)
Spring Break
Spring Break
Reference maps and OSM data in QGIS
Projects
- Start Reference map.
Reading
- Gordon Luckett, Learning QGIS on Lynda, parts 5–9. (Log in to Lynda via AU Library.)
Studio
Projects
- Have significant progress on base map.
Reading
QGIS composer/export tools
- Issie Lapowsky, Is the US Leaning Red or Blue? It All Depends On Your Map
Mapbox tools
- Richard Casey Sadler, How ZIP codes nearly masked the lead problem in Flint
- Hernán Gómez and Kim Dietrich, The Children of Flint Were Not ‘Poisoned’
Critique
Projects
- Reference map is due
Displaying quantitative data on maps
Projects
- Start Final project
In class
- sample Census ACS data, ZIP)
Mapbox tools
Proposals
Share proposal for final.
Reading
Studio
Reading
- Truthful Art ch. 4 (Of Conjectures and Uncertainty)
Studio
In-progress critique
In-progress critique
Studio
Semifinal critique
Exam period (class does not meet)
Projects
- Turn in projects by 5:00 p.m.