Ben Fry on data design

Ben Fry applies design to complex data to make it more understandable and more visually appealing.

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Ben Fry
Ben Fry
Ben Fry takes complex data and visualises it in an aesthetically pleasing and easily understandable way.
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Ben Fry combines the fields of computer science, statistics, graphic design and data visualisation as a way to understand information. In his work he uses information graphics, interactive tools, software installations, the web and mobile devices to interpret complex data. 

In this talk at Design Indaba Conference he discusses design and computer science, and more specifically looks at information design and data visualisation.

How can I as a designer work with data sets that are much larger than I can do by hand? asks Fry.

He discusses projects that engage with this tenet, such as one that looks at a set of UN population data for the last 60 years and prospects for the next 40, and examines what happens as populations age. Fry also works with scientists at MIT, looking at ways to make the information they deal with easier to process, creating qualitative not just quantitative ways of looking at and understanding data.