When
Sandra Bae
Assistant Professor
Computer Science
University of Arizona
https://arizona.zoom.us/j/84089277041
From Pixels to Physicalization: Perception as a Foundation for Visualization Design
Abstract: How do people actually see and make sense of data? This talk argues that effective visualization design must be grounded in human perception---not just algorithmic efficiency or design convention. Drawing on theoretical and empirical work in graphical perception, I show how perceptual mechanisms shape what people notice, how they reason with data, and where systematic errors arise. I then extend this perspective beyond the screen: physicalized data representations offer not only new ways to communicate information, but also new methodological tools for studying how people perceive, act on, and reason about data across multiple modalities. Together, these threads point toward a visualization science centered as much on human perception as on data representation.