You’re doing it wrong: a celebration of ‘worst’ practices – Stefanie Posavec · UX Brighton 2023

Summary

Stephanie, a London-based designer, artist, and author, explores unconventional approaches to data visualization. She uses data to create visual concepts, engage communities, communicate insights, and educate. Stephanie challenges the traditional data visualization process by focusing on the collection process, self-reflection, and community connection, rather than just the end product. Her innovative projects, such as 'Dear Data' and 'Happiness', have resonated widely, influencing educational curriculums and being recognized by institutions like MoMA. She encourages embracing a boundary-pushing mindset over a rule-based one to expand the potential of data visualization.

Takeaways

• 🎨 Stephanie is a London-based designer, artist, and author known for her experimental data design projects.
• 🌐 She uses data to create visual concepts and aesthetics, such as her triptych for the Memory Palace Exhibition illustrating a story through world maps.
• 🤝 Stephanie engages communities through participatory workshops and art projects, like visualizing patient data for the Royal Papworth Hospital.
• 📊 She communicates data insights in playful and expressive ways, making data visualizations accessible to lay audiences.
• 💃 Stephanie's work includes making data 'dancable', as seen in her Facebook artist residency where she turned social interactions into choreography.
• 📚 She educates on data and data collection, using basic drawing materials to teach people of all ages and backgrounds.
• 🔍 Stephanie often takes a non-traditional approach to data visualization, challenging the standard processes and expectations.
• 💌 'Dear Data' is a project where she and a collaborator sent hand-drawn data postcards to understand each other's lives, emphasizing the process over the final product.
• 🌟 Her work has been recognized and acquired by institutions like MoMA in New York, showcasing the impact of her innovative practices.
• 📈 Stephanie's projects have influenced educational curriculums, with her methods being adopted in schools and universities to teach data collection and presentation.

Q & A

What is Stephanie's profession and where is she based?

Stephanie is a designer artist and author based in London.

How does Stephanie describe her recent work with data?

Stephanie describes her recent work as using data to create, connect, communicate, and educate within her practice.

What was the purpose of Stephanie's artwork for the Memory Palace Exhibition?

The artwork for the Memory Palace Exhibition aimed to illustrate a story by Harry Kunu through a triptych of world maps representing pre, during, and post-apocalypse themes.

How did Stephanie involve participatory workshops in her art projects?

Stephanie involved participatory workshops by visualizing anonymized health data collected from patients and staff at the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge to create unique artwork for inpatient rooms.

What approach does Stephanie take to make data visualizations more accessible to a lay audience?

Stephanie makes data visualizations accessible by exploring playful and expressive ways of presenting data that are friendly to a lay audience.

Can you describe the 'danceable data' project Stephanie mentioned?

The 'danceable data' project involved converting a month of a couple's interactions on Facebook into dance steps, bringing their digital interactions into a physical space.

What is the educational aspect of Stephanie's work?

Stephanie educates through teaching data and data collection workshops to various audiences using basic drawing materials, emphasizing an analog approach.

Why does Stephanie refer to her approach to data visualization as 'wrong'?

Stephanie refers to her approach as 'wrong' because it often deviates from the standard process of data visualization, instead focusing on different reasons and processes.

What is the 'dear data' project and how does it challenge traditional data visualization?

The 'dear data' project is a year-long collaboration where Stephanie and George Al Lupy exchanged hand-drawn data postcards, focusing on the process of data collection and self-reflection rather than the final visualization.

How does Stephanie's work with data visualization in public art projects differ from traditional approaches?

In public art projects, Stephanie uses data sets as an interface for community engagement, focusing on self-reflection and connection through data collection, rather than just for actionable insights.

What was the challenge Stephanie faced during her art residency with 'People Like Us' and how did she address it?

The challenge was the lack of precise data due to sensitivity and incompleteness. Stephanie addressed it by creating a visual language and artistic diagrams that accepted imprecision and messiness.