Creative Visualizations of our Collective Lives [and] The Back of the Napkin: Solving Complex Problems with Simple Pictures

Creative Visualizations of our Collective Lives, Joy Mountford, ex VP Yahoo!

The lines between Art | Design | Information are dissolving as we experience new places and objects. Consider, for example, the organic flow of air traffic over North America at daybreak, the bursts of search query memes spreading around the globe, and the pointillist surge of mobile phone usage on New Year's Eve. Using the new techniques of generative data visualization, a new generation of artist/designers/engineer/scientists are creating gorgeous, dynamic experiences driven by massive sets of data about our own lives. Their work comes to life in architectural spaces, on walls of wood and metal and light and shimmering glass clouds suspended overhead. Of course it must be touched to be appreciated and engaged with, simple gestures launch a thousand images and possibilities. Many of these projects have received international recognition. They are primarily 3D applications that can run in real time, but really can only be appreciated by watching them, as movies. These data movies aim to make information easier to understand while being enjoyable to watch. Surprising insights surface through looking at our 'data life' in new ways, and may compel us to design in different, even better ways.

The Back of the Napkin: Solving Complex Problems with Simple Pictures, Dan Roam, best selling author and founder of Digital Roam

We can solve our problems with pictures. Because we as humans are fundamentally visual creatures, any problem we can articulate with words we can articulate abundantly more clearly with pictures. Whether we struggle with problems related to technology and design, human interactions, process difficulties, financial challenges, or political roadblocks, simple pictures offer us extraordinary clarity and insight. Pictures literally help us see the invisible. In this interactive session, Dan will show how to create simple pictures that align directly with the neurobiology of our innate visual systems, and then show how such pictures have been used to resolve complex issues throughout history.