Don’t be Square: Using Shape in Qualitative Data Design
Go to your local art & craft store. Pick up a drawing book for beginners (or do a “How to draw _____ for beginners” Google search). What do you see?
Does it look something like this:
Now look at the instructions. What do you notice? I’m willing to bet that most of the instructions say something along the lines of “Draw the basic shapes to form _____”.
Shape is another powerful design element. Even if you are not a person who enjoys drawing, understanding how to see and use shapes as the building block for how you visually present your data is an incredibly powerful and useful tool for qualitative data design.
Qualitative data can be incredibly rich, offering deep insights into human experiences and perspectives. But let's face it, raw transcripts and interview notes don't exactly make for the most visually engaging presentations. This is where researchers can really leverage the principle of shape when applying visual design thinking.
Shape can significantly impact how qualitative data is interpreted and communicated. It goes beyond mere aesthetics; it plays a vital role in conveying meaning, structuring information, and enhancing the overall user experience.
In this blog post, we delve into the significance of shape within the framework of visual design thinking for qualitative data design.
Here's how you can leverage Shape to bring your data to life:
1. Structuring and Organizing Information, Themes, and Ideas:
Just like in a drawing, shapes serve as building blocks for organizing qualitative data. While not necessarily specific to qualitative data, I think one of the best examples of using shape to structure and organize information can also be seen in business process mapping (such as the flow chart below).
Image courtesy of https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/process-mapping
Qualitative data works to identify, map, and organize themes, complex behaviors, and emotions. So why not use shape to help build those maps and organize themes? For instance, you could use circles to represent holistic views or interconnected ideas, while squares and rectangles signify stability and structure. Having these sorts of associations with shapes can help viewers grasp the relationships between different concepts. In my experience working with qualitative data, I see flowcharts used a lot by researchers to help map out and explain behavioral data. And while flowcharts are incredibly useful and versatile, shape can also offer other opportunities to present and share data for researchers working with qualitative data.
2. Shape as a Distinctive Identifier:
As we hinted at earlier with examining business process maps using shape to organize complex data, another key role of shape in qualitative data design is to serve as a distinctive identifier.
Take a minute and look at the apps your phone. What do you see? Have you ever traveled to a location where you didn’t speak the language? How did you know what restroom to use? Did the symbols look something like this?
You probably have a bunch of other simple shape-based images floating around your head right now – those are called icons – graphic symbols that represent some real, fantasy or abstract motive, entity or action.
What makes icons fantastic for design in general is that they are simplified shape-based representations, which means that they can be used in many contexts, especially those that rely on accessible communication. For example, I once did a project about different types of sauce (think tomato sauce, soy sauce, hot sauce, etc.). It was too much to list out each sauce attribute on the final report to the client, so instead, I used icons to represent the different types of sauce. It looked something along these lines:
(I’ve also used a chili pepper icon to indicate hot/spiciness)
Pretty easy to see which sauce I’m talking about when right?
Humans pull a ton of information from icons, and we use them every day. As a qualitative researcher and data designer, I found using icons and other simplified shapes to be one of the most powerful and frequently used tools in my data design toolkit. Because of their familiarity and ease of use, why not use simplified shapes to represent those unique and nuanced aspects of qualitative data?
NOTE: Incorporating shape in qualitative data design should also take into account accessibility and cultural considerations. It's essential to ensure that shapes are clearly distinguishable, especially for individuals with visual impairments or color vision deficiencies. Using shape outlines, patterns, or textures in addition to color can improve accessibility and ensure that the visualizations are inclusive for all audiences. It's also important to consider the symbolism and cultural context associated with different shapes when designing qualitative data visualizations. Certain shapes may carry specific meanings or interpretations in different cultures, and being mindful of these associations can ensure that the visualizations resonate appropriately with diverse audiences.
3. Conveying Meaning Through Shape
Shapes can also convey specific meanings or concepts in qualitative data design. For instance, using heart shapes to represent positive sentiments or thumbs-down shapes for negative sentiments can add a layer of emotional context to the data.
Back to our business process mapping example. The most common symbols used in business process mapping are basic shapes; Ovals, Circles, Diamonds, squares, etc. (as shown below).
Image courtesy of https://fluix.io/help/process-maps-symbols
But these simple shapes are used because they provide a standardized visual language for representing different elements and aspects within process mapping, as well as help communicate complex information in a clear way, allowing for easy understanding and analysis…Sound familiar at all? If you nodded your head and/or thought; yea that sounds familiar – because it is.
Shape is a fundamental piece of design. As we saw in our examination of icons, humans instinctively use shape to assign meaning. Researchers working with qualitative data can take advantage of this and use familiar shapes (even icons) to represent insights and key findings when presenting their data.
4. Adding Emphasis and Focus:
Different shapes can be used to emphasize key insights or findings within qualitative data. Even more simply, you can use shapes to help highlight a point or make a comparison. For example, you can use a triangle to emphasize a critical point or an irregular shape to draw attention to unique observations that add depth and clarity to the data visualization. You can also use shape to draw attention to powerful and impactful quotes, such as the classic speech bubble.
One of my favorite ways to use shape (with a little bit of color) is for Pro/Con comparisons. As you can see below, by simply using a green and red square, you can probably already tell that this visual would be comparing positives and negatives of something.
There are a bunch of different ways to do Pro/Con but simple boxes with color are usually a big hit. Is it the most creative? Probably not, but the simplicity of using shape to do a comparison - like a Pro/Con - quickly and easily gets the message across to audiences. And that is exactly what we want to do in data design - visualize, design, and communicate.
Note: You can also use Shape to plan your layout for your visuals. If you want to emphasize a specific insight or finding, you can use shape as a guide for how to layout that visual to enable the key insight to have the most impact. Key insights do not always have to be at the top of a slide or paper. Essentially, strategic use of shape can guide the viewer's focus and reinforces the message the data is conveying.
Conclusion
Shape is a versatile and powerful element in qualitative data design, offering opportunities to enhance clarity, convey meaning, and engage viewers on multiple levels. Shape is also versatile and can be effectively combined with other visual elements such as color, size, and texture to create visually compelling and informative data visualizations. Strategically employing shape allows researchers and data designers to visually communicate the relationships between different data points, emphasize key insights, even facilitate easy understanding and quick analysis. By thoughtfully incorporating shape into data visualizations and considering its role in conveying information and symbolism, researchers and data designers can create impactful and meaningful representations of qualitative data that resonate with audiences across various contexts and cultures.
Here are some things to keep in mind when considering shape:
Maintain Consistency: Once you establish a system for using shapes, stick with it throughout your design. Be sure to define your shape system from the beginning. This creates a visual language that viewers can easily understand.
Keep it Simple: Avoid cluttering your design with too many shapes. Aim for a clean and balanced aesthetic. Depending on your data, I find that 3-6 shapes is usually enough.
Use Color Strategically: Combine shapes with color to further enhance meaning and visual appeal.
Consider Your Audience: Consider your audience when selecting shapes. Will that shape resonate with them positively or negatively? Does that shape have significant meaning to the people in your audience? Is the shape accessible?
