Public Secrets - Design Implementation
Technically, Public Secrets is a website with a "Flash" interface that provides access to a MySQL database. The interface employs an adapted version of a "treemap" algorithm. Public Secrets was originally published in the Vectors Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular. As a Vectors Fellow I had the opportunity to collaborate with artistic director, designer/programmer Erik Loyer. During the conceptual design phase of the project Erik and I explored the idea of using treemap visualizations.
Treemaps display rows of data as groups of rectangles that can be arranged, sized and colored to graphically reveal underlying data patterns. This visualization technique allows end users to easily recognize complicated data relationships that are otherwise non-obvious. To generate a treemap, one provides the algorithm with the dimensions of a rectangle and a list of items to be laid out within it, along with a value for each item. When given this information, the algorithm is able to create a rectangle for each item, the area of which is proportional to the item's value. In addition, the algorithm calculates the position and dimensions of each item so that all items taken together exactly fill the larger, enclosing rectangle. As Erik put it, “if I've got a box and a bunch of things to put in it, the treemap algorithm makes all those things fit in the box perfectly, while preserving their relative size relationships.”
We used treemapping in Public Secrets more as a metaphor than as a visualization; in other words, the proportional relationships between our rectangles are randomly generated or in some cases, fixed. They do not quantitatively represent data relations but instead allow us to organize topically structured data that is dynamically pulled into each screen or view from the database. Therefore each new screen or view is unique as a visitor navigates through the site. Erik also developed a typographic riff on the treemap, in the form of an algorithm that dynamically arranges type to fit the dimensions of a rectangle as closely as possible while retaining visual interest and beauty.
Erik Loyer's "Designer's Statement"
Treemaps display rows of data as groups of rectangles that can be arranged, sized and colored to graphically reveal underlying data patterns. This visualization technique allows end users to easily recognize complicated data relationships that are otherwise non-obvious. To generate a treemap, one provides the algorithm with the dimensions of a rectangle and a list of items to be laid out within it, along with a value for each item. When given this information, the algorithm is able to create a rectangle for each item, the area of which is proportional to the item's value. In addition, the algorithm calculates the position and dimensions of each item so that all items taken together exactly fill the larger, enclosing rectangle. As Erik put it, “if I've got a box and a bunch of things to put in it, the treemap algorithm makes all those things fit in the box perfectly, while preserving their relative size relationships.”
We used treemapping in Public Secrets more as a metaphor than as a visualization; in other words, the proportional relationships between our rectangles are randomly generated or in some cases, fixed. They do not quantitatively represent data relations but instead allow us to organize topically structured data that is dynamically pulled into each screen or view from the database. Therefore each new screen or view is unique as a visitor navigates through the site. Erik also developed a typographic riff on the treemap, in the form of an algorithm that dynamically arranges type to fit the dimensions of a rectangle as closely as possible while retaining visual interest and beauty.
Erik Loyer's "Designer's Statement"
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