Viz Thinking: To what extent does human-centered design and data-driven design facilitate better understanding of data visualizations for students in FUSE?

This thesis investigates on human-centered design principles and the data-driven design approach by Andy Kirk (2016), that focuses on the ability of data visualization to facilitate understanding. Relying on prominent research by Donald Norman (2013) and Shneiderman et al. (2010), just to name a few central contributors, the thesis emphasizes on how and why continuous user feedback is necessary to ensure that a given data visualization meets identified user needs and expectations of a target audience. The study incorporates qualitative methods in a mixed-methods approach. This approach has been named Viz Thinking primarily to highlight the design capabilities of data visualization and some of its limitations or implications. Semi-structured interviews, focus group, design studio workshop and iterative usability tests are adapted to students in social sciences and their understanding of the data visualization presented in FUSE - which is the name of a prototype that is developed in a iterative process, primarily as a use case for this project. The thesis shows the importance of context in data visualization design. Multiple theories, such as the Goldilocks Principle and Purpose Map (Kirk, 2016), is applied to evaluate the design choices and design choices and the process behind it. Whether there is too much or too little emphasis on a design element, it is important that the data is objective, perceivable and verifiable. FUSE attempts to achieve all of this in a singular desktop interface - with design contributions and feedback from 25 informants. Although the prototype still needs improvement, the thesis concentrates on the potential of Viz Thinking to facilitate understanding for the end-user, with the ambition to improve the communication between creators and end-users of an interactive data visualization interface.