The last 75|37 exploration

I've assigned a 75/37 exercise a bunch of times to my DataViz classes/lectures, some of them documented here and here.

It's a very interesting and effective way to introduce and teach one of the most important principles in data visualization: the relation between the abstract information and the visual element defined by an agreed rule.

It's a mechanical exercise since it takes out, purposely, any meaningful context.

A follow-up

During my last DataViz class I've introduced a variation which has been promising.

I've published a Google Form with a bunch of questions related to personal information (age, studies, origin, alongside other silly curiosity such as preferred meal, number of laughs/goodbyes, fast-foods/cinema in a month, or the number of likes in a social network) .

Students were asked to complete the form and then use it as a data source to ideate and sketch possible representations.

In addition to the assignment, I've shown them the DearData project which gives a lot of inspirations.

The exercise gave the opportunity to both understand the mechanic of the representation and making practice in the storytelling field as well.

I don't have the results to show, I promise I'll post the next results during in my next upcoming DataViz classes.