The way I’ve chosen to represent the data is an example of graphical excellence because it shows an otherwise complex set of data (that which describes human emotions) in a way that is easy to digest and retain. It also places an emphasis on substance rather than methodology and serves a clear purpose: description and exploration of a person’s feelings.

The piece embodies art’s forceful point of view by making the viewer reflect on the graphic and, upon finding that there are dips in the y direction (moments of lower self-esteem), their interest will be in figuring out ways to ensure constant high values of self-esteem. In this sense, the graphic’s way of representing the data has the side effect of imposing a particular perspective on the viewer.

In terms of my project’s connection to the readings and the example visualizations:

The data streams recorded in my chart are similar to those in Lozano-Hemmer’s pulse room. Both visualizations depend on biometric data (heart pulse for Lozano’s and things like blood pressure, heart rate and hormones) to generate a visible piece. Also, it resembles Frick’s approach of collecting personal data like heart-rate, sleep patterns and brain activity to make art.

One of my goals is to allow people to see themselves in the art, through an analysis of the “colors of their feelings. In a similar way, Lozano’s pulse room seeks to have the users feel that they are a piece of the visualization.

The graphic aims to make an impression—to present the data in a way that is easy to digest and retain. These principles are the same as William Playfair’s approach to data representation. Averaging emotions in text or numbers is difficult because there is no standardized terminology for the “in-between feelings.” Additionally, simply having these terms on a chart with self-esteem ratings does not leave an impression the observer and fails to meet the goal of having the subject connect with the piece. (It’s harder to relate to numbers than to colors and shapes that look like what they represent)

Joseph Minard’s illustration of Napoleon’s army can be considered to depict 3 dimensions, two dimensions of space and a dimension of time. In a similar way, the emotion graph shows three dimensions: a dimension of time, a dimension of self-esteem measured over a differentiable continuum and finally the more ethereal dimension that describes human emotion. The “emotion dimension” can be considered to be multidimensional in of itself since its degrees of change include at least 8 distinct feelings with an additional 18 based on intensity. This idea is illustrated by the following graphic: