Visual Representation
Your constantly-updated definition of Visual Representation and collection of topical content and literature
Literature on Visual Representation
Here’s the entire UX literature on Visual Representation by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:
All literature

Ch 35: Data Visualization for Human Perception
Data visualization is the graphical display of abstract information for two purposes: sense-making (also called data analysis) and communication. Important stories live in our data and data visualization is a powerful means to discover and understand these stories, and then to present them to others. The information is abstract in that it descri...

Ch 5: Visual Representation
How can you design computer displays that are as meaningful as possible to human viewers? Answering this question requires understanding of visual representation - the principles by which markings on a surface are made and interpreted. The analysis in this article addresses the most important principles of visual representation for screen design...

Ch 11: Philosophy of Interaction
Over the last two decades, interaction design has emerged as a design discipline alongside traditional design disciplines such as graphics design and furniture design. While it is almost tautological that furniture designers design furniture, it is less obvious what the end product of interaction design is. Löwgren's answer is "in...

Ch 25: Semiotics
This chapter covers why and how Semiotics can help advance some of the major goals of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and be useful when designing interactive products. It begins with brief definitions and explanations of a few central concepts in Semiotics. This is followed by a discussion of harder challenges involved in bringing Semiotics in...

Ch 26: Aesthetic Computing
The phrase "Aesthetic Computing" while taken literally applies the philosophical area of aesthetics to the field of computing, and work in the area is broadly defined as such; however, in my operational definition for the work we do in my research lab and in teaching, aesthetic computing is treated as embodied formal language. The purpose of aes...