Dimensions

The visual mode offers a valuable set of communication tools that exemplify a systems approach.

Beyond Color & Data Visualization

In addition to data visualization, which is the visual encoding of data, of all stripes (different types, quantities, sources, and so on), there are at least three different kind of on-the-paper visualizations. But more on that in a bit, first, we should also acknowledge that there is a great deal of visual input which we can consider data visualization. Recall that communication is not limited to actively producing a signal, actively encoding and transmitting it, or decoding and receiving it, or perceiving it, or even acknowledging it. Visual cues are all around us. Consider the examples presented in Table 1.

Visible Cue Underlying Information
Different Types of buildings History of a settled location
Different types of endemic flora & fauna Soil and environmental conditions
Appearance of invasive flora & fauna Change in environmental conditions, migration patterns of carrier species
Appearance of physical & mental symptoms Underlying physical ailments, health deficiencies, toxic environments, traumatic conditions
Table 1: Atypical forms of visible communication.

The examples provided in Table 1 are just a few case where we use visible communication signals in everyday life. In each case information is indeed encoded in a visible mode. How we choose to understand that message, or indeed if we choose to even recognize that there is a message, is another question entirely. My goal here is to propose a more expansive view of what the visible mode of communication is, to move beyond color and data visualization to encompass all the ways in which we receive visible information.

Limits of Signal Differentiation

Note in the examples presented in Table 1, that for each case, there is a limit to the possibly outcome states. For example, there are only so many physical states our body can be in which are also perceptible to the naked eye. There are more mental states, and there are immensely more cellular states and impossibly more genetic states. It is the task of medical diagnostics to be able to access the vast information available in the molecular genetic space, and so read more detailed information that is not available on the physical space. Likewise, the biodiversity of flora and fauna allow ecologists to read complexities of the environment on many levels.

Here we see that the more abstract, the larger and the more diverse the encoding elements are, the more room we have to increase the signal-to-noise, to be surprised and perhaps even shocked, or profoundly confused. The potential for conveying information increases proportional to the encoding space.

Writing as Visible Mode

The visual equivalent of the data visualization is, of course, text, which is itself just another form of data visualization. We encode data into some aesthetic properties, or into some aesthetically pleasing letters, and present that to convey the message we have in our heads. To state that language is complex is an understatement. Aside from vast vocabularies, diversity of use, cultural and context specificity, and many forms of prose, language is also constantly and rapidly changing — it is incredibly malleable. Language is massive and ancient and constantly giving rise to new constructs. It is in this section that we’ll consider written language as a form of visual communication.