Abstracts Category : Other

The power of lines: creating rhythms for visual relations

by Yike Si

Lines are fundamental in design. They have great ability to transform their physical features and fit into different context. Lines are used everywhere in information design. However, the complex and large datasets increase the challenges of using lines because it causes line congestions that obscure understanding. There are many approaches to tackle these problems, such as edge-bundling algorithms. These solutions basically simplify visual complexity and abstract data structure, but they decrease the power of using visual forms to reveal the data story. Therefore, today's solutions are far from satisfactory. My argument is that line congestions and intersections could work well if we could design an organization of lines that is comprehensive. Creating a rhythmic scheme is one solution for building a comprehensive structure. This thesis aims to create visual rhythms of lines to articulate different data relations and prove that line intersections and congestions can work well with rhythmic arrangement in space.