An innovative approach to finding new and creative ways of visually representing data is being explored through a collaboration between City as Lab, local arts group City Arts, and a renowned artist.

The Nottingham-based community art group, City Arts, worked with designer and author Stefanie Posavec to host two workshops which use the medium of sketching and drawing to identify novel ways to present information.

The workshops – one geared towards the public in Nottingham and one for academics at the University – encourage people to think differently about how information can be conveyed and communicated and equip them with skills and techniques to design new and creative visualisations of data.

Although several tried and tested ways to visualise data exist, these sessions will take a fresh approach which fosters novel ways of thinking and explores experimental strategies to help push visualisation further.

Stefanie Posavec is a designer, artist, and author focused on creating playful, accessible, human-scaled approaches to communicating data. Her data-driven work has been exhibited internationally at major galleries and earned her a nomination for the London Design Museum’s ‘Designs of the Year’ competition in 2016. Part of City as Lab’s remit is to explore creative ways to actively connect with the local community to co-produce questions and solutions; in line with these aims, they and City Arts asked Stefanie to stage the events.

Stefanie hosted a community focused workshop in conjunction with City Arts on Tuesday 11 July, which 15 people attended. Then, on Wednesday 12 July, she hosted a half-day workshop with staff and academics from the University on its University Park campus. Eight members of staff participated along with five postgraduate researchers from all faculties of the University. The session began with a basic overview of data visualisation as seen through the lens of drawing. Participants then undertook a series of fast-paced drawing challenges where they worked with the constraints inherent in a single drawing material, applying techniques found in traditional drawing classes to data visualisation.

Stefanie said: “For centuries, artists have used paper and pencils to sketch the life unfolding around them, but in the digital age, data has become a creative material like paint or paper, offering a new way of seeing and engaging with your world.”

Describing the nature of the workshops, she continued: “Starting a data project with sketching introduces novel ways of thinking and leads to designs that are uniquely customised for the specific type of data problems one faces. We encouraged people to ask themselves, ‘how would your approach within a data-driven project change if you started by sketching offscreen instead of jumping directly into visualisation software or code?’”

The workshops included an intensive drawing session, merging traditional drawing exercises with data to build creative confidence and push experimentation. By the end, participants were able to approach data visualisation from a different angle through using creative techniques traditionally found in drawing classes and integrate off-screen quick sketching methods into their data visualisation process, whatever the application. Participants may still choose to develop their ideas using computers or code, but starting in this way often generates ideas that may otherwise not have been explored.

A selection of photographs from the two data sketching workshops hosted by Stefanie Posavec.

Given City-as-Lab's focus on how digital and data research can address local city needs, these workshops present an exciting opportunity to experiment and ‘play’ with traditional methods of data visualisation. Dr Jasper Donelan, Digital Research Specialist for City as Lab, said: “In terms of who the workshops were aimed at, it could be people who use charts regularly in their job or their research but would like to become more confident when exploring different approaches for visualising data. It could be those who visualise and analyse data using code and data analysis software and would like to add an analogue creative process to their skillset. Or it could be anyone with an interest in data and how it is presented to different audiences and for different purposes.”

Professor Paul Grainge, Academic Director for City as Lab, commented: “We were delighted to partner with City Arts to welcome Stefanie Posavec to Nottingham and work with her in holding these workshops. They are a brilliant vehicle for creative thinking and experimentation in the use of art and data. This is something we are passionate about at City as Lab and we can’t wait to see where the sessions will lead.”

After the success of the two workshops, City as Lab and City Arts are now planning a follow-up event, centred around a “citizen panel” and a data art commission. The aim of the panel will be to help identify creative opportunities to share data widely to the public, using the arts as a tool. There will be a two-hour session held at City Arts in August, looking at approaches to data-art by various artists. This event will also select a dataset for a small art commission, which will be publicly displayed at the University's new Castle Meadow Campus.