presented at Strata Conference, NY, October 29 2013 / How can a data-driven visualization tell multiple interplaying stories, and achieve a viable result in an abstract visual composition? I will share the work I am doing with my information design company (accurat.it) on analysing and visualising complex cultural, social and economical phenomena and focusing on a project for La Lettura, the cultural supplement of the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera (full gallery here http://www.flickr.com/photos/accurat/sets/72157632185046466/) Purposely, the aim here is to compose and deliver non-linear and multi-layered visual narratives able to maintain the informative richness of the data but still making this richness more accessible and understandable, publishing compound and complex stories told through data visualizations. I will describe how we can imagine to open new perspectives in the field and how we can also aim at educating readers’ eyes to get familiar with new visual ways to convey the richness of information that we experience in our everyday lives rather than simplifications of the phenomena analysed. The speech will outline the design process from the very first ideas to the final results in different cases, presenting backstage materials such as sketches and intermediate versions and showing how we select, analyse and combine different data-sets. It will conclude by tracing some red threads to discover possible new approaches to the aesthetics of data-visualization: focusing on how to get inspired from many different disciplines, how to build a personal method and set individual goals, and explaining why we hope our aesthetic and analytic choices can generate new possibilities for ongoing creativity and research in the data-visualisation field The idea here is to open possible questions rather then providing finite and definitive answers: to ask ourselves how far can we go rather than delimiting the domain.

1. Oct 29, 2013
Strata Conference
Hadoop World
New York
Non-linear Storytelling:
towards new methods
and aesthetics for data narrative
giorgia lupi
tw: @giorgialupi
www.accurat.it
www.giorgialupi.net
giorgia.lupi@accurat.it

2. www.accurat.it

4. www.accurat.it

5. founders and partners
giorgia lupi
gabriele rossi
(architect)
Design Director
(designer)
Managing Director
simone quadri
(sociologist)
Contents Curator
team
michele graffieti
visual designer
alex piacentini
interaction designer
marco vettorello
chief technology officer
federica fragapane
data-visualization designer
marco bernardi
interaction designer
glauco mantegari
data scientist and analyst
pietro guinea montalvo
data-visualization designer
francesco majno
data-visualization designer
giovanni marchi
art director
davide ciuffi
content manager
stefania guerra
designer
marco prandina
data scientist
alessandro contini
interaction designer
and developer

6. “ information designers
a visual bridge between the data
and the people that needs to
understand, improve their knowledge
or take decisions from these data.

8. client:
Ambrosetti, the
European House
field:
consulting
project:
State, citizens
and companies in
the digital era
Working side by side
with business
consultants to
detect and
highlight patterns,
trends, virtues and
foes on an
international
research on
the state of the
digital
transition

10. client:
self
field:
art
06 | 10 / Kandinsky
visualizing painters’ lives
01 | 10 / Picasso
visualizing painters’ lives
1933
02 | 10 / Miró
visualizing painters’ lives
France______ Neuilly-sur-Seine
1896
1928
1921
1922
Berlin Weimar
Germany______ Dessau
Visit______ Netherlands
1886
1891
Russia______ Moscow
1914
1930
1897
1932 1940
Barcelona Palma, Majorca
Moscow
Spain______ Coruna Barcelona Madrid Montroig
Spain______
1871
project:
1946
Antibes
1936
Paris
1968
United States
1917
Barcelona
1942
Barcelona
1920
Ukraine______ Odessa
1946
La Californie
1961
Mougins
1956
Palma, Majorca
1949
Paris
France______ Paris
Fernande Olivier
Visualizing
painters’
lives
Eva Gouel
[...]
Anna Chimyakina
[...]
Olga Kokhlova
writer
[...]
Lily Stumpf
(1980)
Pilar Juncosa Iglesias
Marie-Therese Walter
Gabriele Münter
(1962)
how to read it:
shapes, elements, forms
Dora Maar
writer
how to read it:
shapes, elements, forms
(1995)
Miquel Miró Adzerias
father
“
“
You must always plant
your feet firmly on the ground if
you want to jump into the air.
The fact that I come down to
Earth from time to time makes it
possible to jump all the higher.
Studies
full name
Joan Miró Ferrá
Righty
Aries
“
distinctive features
Righty
1910
1900
1920
1910
Picasso
“
My mother said to me,
Studies
'If you are a soldier,
you will become a general.
If you are a monk,
you will become the Pope.'
Instead, I was a painter, and
became Picasso.
1881
1890
Oct. 25
Malaga, Spain
Paul Klee
Pablo Gargallo
influenced by:
Jose Luis Sert
Jaime
Sabartes
Dalmau Gallery
1910
Early Years
(impressionist)
Post-impressionism
Pablo Diego José
María de los Remedios Crispiniano
de la Santísima Trinidad
distinctive features
Sagittarius
Righty
Scorpio
1960
1920
1980
1940
event
91 y. o.
event
acquistance
1950
1960
1970
first
exhibition
Jean
Cocteau
University of
Blue PeriodMoscowe Period
Ros
African Period
Expressionism
Erik
Satie
Cubism
Neoclassicism & Surrealism
Marcel Duchamp
(drip painter)
artistic production:
paintings per year
Archile Gorky
Guernica
Picture with archer
equals to a sin
Houses at Murnau
An actor
A boy with a pipe The piano accordionist
Still Life with old shoe
artistic
period
artistic
period
artistic
period
Symbolic painting
author has been scaled and
normalized to the total of
the works of Picasso
Succession
Portrait
Portrait
Crying woman
A dream
Marie-Thérèse Walter
artworks
artworks
Portrait of Sylvette David
David
<1 sqm
Sylvette
<1 sqm
Genre painting
1< area <2 sq m
Women and bird
in the moonlight
>3 sqm
Still life
Night fishing at Antibes
colors =
artwork palette
Literary painting
Landscape
The farm
Don Quixote
The hunter (Catalan landscape)
Dutch interior
The pigeon pea Fruit dish
Mythological painting
The minotauromachie
Abstract painting
Ciphers and constellations,
in love with a woman
The birth of the world
1964
The song of the vowels
Self-portrait
Self-portrait
www.accurat.it
a project by Accurat
directed by Giorgia Lupi and Michela Buttignol
www.accurat.it
a project by Accurat
directed by Giorgia Lupi and Michela Buttignol
www.accurat.it
colors =
artwork palette
Still life
Interior painting
Dutch interior, I
a project by Accurat
directed by Giorgia Lupi and Michela Buttignol
1< area <3 sq m
Genre painting
>2 sqm
Girl in
mirror
Cityscape front of Walter
Marie-Thérèse
The dance
1954
Venice Biennale Grand Prize
for Graphic work
1958
Guggenheim
International Award
the artistic pro
author has be
normalized to
the works of P
artistic
Nude
period painting
artistic
artistic
period
period
Abstract painting
Portrait of E.C. Ricart
Small worlds
Composition VII
Celestina
Boy leading a horse I
Person throwing
Rope and people
a stone at a bird
Improvisation 30 (Cannons)
Picture With A White Border
The old blind guitarist
Girl with mandolin
Family of Metamorphose Tellier)
acrobats jugglers (Fanny
award
Jackson Pollock
equals
influenced: to a single artwork
(dadaist)
Abstract Art
Surrealism
Landscape
Munich-Schwabing with
the church of St. Ursula
exhibition
Apr. 8
Mougins, France
influenced:
Late Years
artistic production:
paintings per year
influenced:
Abstract Art
The girls of Avignon
Man and woman
Portrait of
in front of a pile of excrement
Mrs Mills in 1750
(after Constable)
Composition VIII
Painting with green center
Portait of Suzanne Bloch
Suzanne Bloch
Portrait of Vincent Nubiola
first
1973
Ernest
Hemingway
(abstract expressionist) of the
the artistic production
Blue rider
dea
[...] data not available
Dec. 25
Palma, Majorca
Spain
ClaudeKing Juan Carlos
Paloma
1930
death
1983
1944
Gertrude
Stein
Early Years
(impressionist)
1970born
Dec. 13
Maya
Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Paulo
Founds the Der Blaue Reiter
Julio
Max
George
Gonzalez
Jacob
Braques
Moscow Academy Henri
Bauhaus
of Fine Arts Matisse
Paul Gauguin
1950
1940
Henri Matisse
1900
Franz arc
Moscow
School of
Cercle Artístic
Commerce
de Sant Lluc
Academy of Fine Arts
Anton Ažbe's
Escuela de Arte
Carrer del Regomir 13 school deof Munich
private Escuela
de Francesco Galí
Bellas Artes
de la Llotja
influenced by:
Claude Monet by:
influenced
(impressionist)
Paul Cezanne
1940
1930
Arnold Schoenberg
Andre Breton
Joseph Dalmau
Gabriele Münter
Joseph Llorente Artigas
Conchita
Still alive
born
77 y. o.
1930
1920
full name
full name
Vasilij Vasil'evic Kandinsky
1900
María Picasso y López
1890 mother
Joan Prat
distinctive features
Still alive
90 y. o.
Vsevolod
José Ruiz y Blasco
father
Barcelona, Spain
Dec. 16
Moscow, Russia
“
The sun melts all of
Moscow down to a single spot
that, like a mad tuba, starts all
of the heart and all of the soul
vibrating. But no, this uniformity
of red is not the most beautiful
hour. It is only the final chord of
a symphony that takes every
colour to the zenith of life that,
like the fortissimo of a great
orchestra, is both compelled and
allowed by Moscow to ring out.
1893
1880 Apr. 20
1870
daughter
son
Jacqueline Roque
“
Kandinsky
1866
Still alive
Genevieve Laporte
Maria Dolors
Miró
marriage
travels
sister
Dolores Ferrà
mother
Mathilde
(1876)
(1997)
relationship
travels
“
Lidia Ivanovna Tikheeva
mother
(1977)
(love affair)
(love affair)
Francoise Gilot
Vasily Silvestrovich Kandinsky
father
a visual anthology of
10 abstract painters'
lives, isolating pictorial
elements from painters'
styles and using them to
tell the story of their life
and artistic production
through a series of
diagrams.
1895
1925
1900
France______ Paris
Dessau
1958
Gold medal
of Fine Arts
International Lenin
Peace Prize

11. 1946
Antibes
1936
Paris
1900
France______ Paris
1891
1895
1897
Coruna Barcelona Madrid
Spain______
1946
La Californie
1961
Mougins
1917
Barcelona
Fernande Olivier
Eva Gouel
Olga Kokhlova
writer
Marie-Therese Walter
(1977)
Dora Maar
writer
(1997)
Francoise Gilot
Still alive
Genevieve Laporte
how to read it:
shapes, elements, forms
(love affair)
Still alive
Jacqueline Roque
Still alive
daughter
sister
Conchita
María Picasso y López
mother
Paulo
Maya
Claude
Paloma
91 y. o.
born
1881
Oct. 25
Malaga, Spain
“
1890
1900
1910
Jaime
Sabartes
Julio
Gonzalez
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
Max
Jacob
1973
Apr. 8
Mougins, France
Gertrude
Stein
George
Braques
Jean
Cocteau
Erik
Satie
Ernest
Hemingway
event
Henri
Matisse
influenced by:
Paul Gauguin
Early Years
Rose Period
Blue Period
(impressionist)
African Period
Cubism
Neoclassicism & Surrealism
influenced:
Late Years
Jackson Pollock
artistic production:
paintings per year
(drip painter)
“
My mother said to me,
'If you are a soldier,
you will become a general.
If you are a monk,
you will become the Pope.'
Instead, I was a painter, and
became Picasso.
mar
travels
José Ruiz y Blasco
father
Picasso
rela
eq
the
au
no
the
“
Symbolic painting
full name
Guernica
Pablo Diego José
María de los Remedios Crispiniano
de la Santísima Trinidad
The girls of Avignon
distinctive features
Portrait
Portait of Suzanne Bloch
Suzanne Bloch
Celestina
Righty
Nude painting
Crying woman
A dream
Marie-Thérèse Walter
artistic
period
artistic
period
artistic
period
artworks
<1 sqm
Portrait of Sylvette David
Sylvette David
1< area
Boy leading a horse
Genre painting
Scorpio
>3 sqm
The old blind guitarist
An actor
Family of
acrobats jugglers
Girl with mandolin
(Fanny Tellier)
A boy with a pipe The piano accordionist
Girl in front of mirror
Marie-Thérèse Walter
The dance
colors =
artwork palette
Night fishing at Antibes
Literary painting
Don Quixote
Still life
The pigeon pea Fruit dish
Mythological painting
The minotauromachie
1964
International Lenin
Peace Prize

12. client:
Mc Cann,
(Fiorucci)
field:
advertising
project:
A slice of
corruption
Design of a scientific
map of the history
of corruption in Italy,
for the mockumentary
ADV campaign
of cold-cuts brand
Fiorucci
(playing with the visual
metaphor of their
products)

15. client:
Share srl
field:
healthcare
project:
Docto
Ethnographic research
and consequent design
of a an integrated
digital information
system designed
specifically for
the many different
users or medical
structures.

16. client:
Visual.ly
field:
business
project:
the Startup
Universe
Design and development
of an interactive visual
access to the
Crunchbase Database,
highlighting the
economical and
temporal
relationships among
- Startups,
- their Founders
- and the VCs
investing in them

18. client:
NY Public
Library
field:
humanities
project:
the Emmet
collection
Design and
development
of an interactive
and multi
perspective
visualization
of one of the
New York
Public Library
literary archives

23. client:
Sisu Labs
field:
marketing
project:
Sento
sentoapp.com
Design and development
of an interactive
web application
to monitor
social media reputation
and support
marketing activities
through content and
semantic analysis
(ongoing)

25. Non-linear Storytelling:
towards new methods
and aesthetics for data narrative

26. client:
Corriere della Sera
field:
journalism
project:
Visual Data
column
Visual Storytelling
for the Sunday cultural
supplement of
Corriere della Sera

28. [1]
[2]
presenting
some pieces
in detail
dissecting
our methods
[3]
how far
can we go?

30. - - - n. or researchers per 1M people - - - - >
- - - - - - % of GDP invested in R&D - - - - - - - >

39. how to build “unusual” visual compositions?
> be (visually) inspired from very different fields

40. OMA (NY)
M
Inventing
“
straction
ab
10-1925”
19

41. MA (NY)
MO
Inventing
“
straction
ab
10-1925”
19
rain Drain
>B
ualization
data-vis
(first sketches)
trying to
“paint with
data”

42. (sketches)
data starts
to paint!

43. documenti
ranking
donne
documenti
ranking
donne
rca
ima
an
D
123.456
Br
asil
sil
Bra
sil
Bra
123.456
sil
Bra
e
n
ppo
Gia
ia
Svez
sil
Bra
Usa
ada
Can
lia
tra
Aus
Uk
cia
Fran
nia
ma
Ger
io
Belg
sil
Bra
era
z
Sviz
*
gna
Spa
nda
Ola
sil
Bra
sil
Bra
sil
Bra
a
Itali
ito
hiar
i
o sc di tutt ri
)
h
iara
qui acità
to
rca e piu ch
le op e i rice ipal
n
c
tran ia prin
or
(st
no
rna
rito
he
)
lli c
itiva
que rde?
pos
e
in v na cosa
(E’ u
sile
Bra
sil
Bra
*
ia
Ind
(intermediate steps)
exploring on singular
elements’ composition

49. hD r
P e
st or
a
M el e
ch gre
Ba de
no
hD r
P e
t
as lor
M e e
ch gre
Ba de
no
hD r
P e
st or
a
M el e
ch gre
Ba de
no
hD r
P e
st or
a
M el e
ch gre
Ba de
no
hD r
P e
st or
a
M el e
ch gre
Ba de
no
hD r
P e
st or
a
M el

57. (fascination)
graphic music notations

58. hn Cage,
Jo
ct (1959)
Mix proje
Fontana
(fascination)
graphic music notations

60. (intermediate steps)
building the
architecture
and fine tuning

62. Multi-layered storytelling
layering and making hierarchies clear,
for both the data analisis and the visual composition

63. Non-linear Storytelling:
Journalism through “Info-spatial” Compositions
(article - Parsons Journal for Information Mapping vol. 04 - 2012)

64. Layering, and making
hierarchies clear
Labeling and
Identifying
elements
[5]
[1]
[6]
[2]
Supplementing
the greater story
through the
addition
of “minor or
tangental tales”
elements
Composing the main
architecture of the
visualization
Positioning singular
elements within the
main framework.
Providing small visual
explanations such as a
legend or key
[7]
[3]
[8]
[4]
Constructing
shaped elements of
dimensionality and
form
Elucidating internal
relationships between
elements. (if any)
Fine-tuning and stylizing of
elements shapes, colors, and
weights to make hierarchies pop out.

65. [1]
Composing the main
architecture of the
visualization

66. [2]
Positioning singular
elements within the
main framework.

67. [3]
Constructing shaped
elements of
dimensionality and
form

68. [4]
Elucidating internal
relationships
between elements.
(if any)

69. [5]
Labeling and
Identifying elements

70. [6]
Supplementing the
greater story
through the addition
of “minor or
tangential tales”
elements

71. [7]
Providing small
visual explanations
such as a
legend or key

72. [8]
Fine-tuning and
stylizing of elements
shapes, colors, and
weights to make
hierarchies pop out.

73. Layering, and making
hierarchies clear
Labeling and
Identifying
elements
[5]
[1]
[6]
[2]
Supplementing
the greater story
through the
addition
of “minor or
tangental tales”
elements
Composing the main
architecture of the
visualization
Positioning singular
elements within the
main framework.
Providing small visual
explanations such as a
legend or key
[7]
[3]
[8]
[4]
Constructing
shaped elements of
dimensionality and
form
Elucidating internal
relationships between
elements. (if any)
Fine-tuning and stylizing of
elements shapes, colors, and
weights to make hierarchies pop out.

74. “ good visualizations
answer questions,
generate new questions,
make you think and concern,
visualisations tell stories,
thousand stories: and if done good,
with multiple levels of explorations.
Moritz Stefaner

75. “ good visualizations
as visual ways to convey the richness, the
involvement and feelings that we experience in our
everyday lives rather than simplifications of the
world.

77. “ Metaphor consists
in giving the thing
a name that belongs
to something else
Aristotle

78. “ In the end,
creating is all about
playing and innovating
within familiar forms
Twyla Tharp

79. Oct 29, 2013
Strata Conference
Hadoop World
New York
Non-linear Storytelling:
towards new methods
and aesthetics for data narrative
giorgia lupi
tw: @giorgialupi
www.accurat.it
www.giorgialupi.net
giorgia.lupi@accurat.it