Lecture: Principles of Interactivity
We’ve been experiencing interactive graphics all semester, and you’ve even made some in the assignments. But this week we’re focusing on the element of interactivity — how it can be used, what users expect, and why interactivity isn’t always a good idea.
Follow along with the slides here: Principles of Interactivity
Video not showing up? Watch on YouTube here.
Examples always help for understanding and remembering principles, so here’s a discussion of a few interactives that demonstrate the near view/far view and levels of interactivity. When evaluating an interactive, think about these characteristics: What is the level of interactivity? What is the far view? What is the near view?
This video discussion identifies these characteristics in several interactives, some of which still work well and others that do not because the underlying technology or website has changed. Here are the links:
Avengers, satellites, word train, love it or hate it
Readings
• Design Principles for News Apps (ProPublica)
This reading is from 2013, when smartphones were just beginning to be a serious consideration for designers. Do you think these principles are still true today, or have they shifted?
Discussion
An interactive graphic known as the “dialect map” is one of the most-read and most-shared stories ever published by The New York Times. But it’s designed for the U.S. and doesn’t work for everyone, so let’s see what happens. Go through the entire quiz: How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk
Dialect Map: Go through the whole quiz and then answer the following:
- What were your top three cities, and does that seem accurate for you?
- Do you think you would have gone through the entire quiz if it wasn’t a class requirement?
- Knowing that this has been a very popular and successful graphic, do you think that reputation is justified? Is the payoff worth the effort?
Assignment: Interactive Map Comparison (20 points)
This assignment involves a comparison of different tools for creating an interactive choropleth map. You’ve already done this in Tableau for Washington state counties, but now we’ll use state-level census data for U.S. maps.