Bridget Winds CogleyToday's Mastodon exclusive from #FunctionalAestheticsTheBook involves you. Yes, YOU!
Can you say the color and not the word? Try it out loud. It's even more fun with friends!
Languages make use of iconicity and abstraction. Onomatopoeia is one way #languages represent a sound: shushing, clucking, purring, etc mirror the sounds they represent with phonemes available from the language.
#DataVis also has iconicity and abstraction. Bar #charts are iconic, representing literal stacks, while lines are surprisingly abstract. The stacks of books in the line pull your focus from the trend to the values - iconicity. #DataViz #FunctionalAestheticsTheBook
@dominikus One reason I cowrote #FunctionalAestheticsTheBook is that aesthetic piece helps guide and direct us. It's not just "pretties," but a semantic tool that teaches, informs, and delights.