Looking Outwards 07 – Information Visualization

Work Title: The Atlas of Emotions for the Dalai Lama & Paul Ekman — Visualizing the science of emotions

Artist: Stamen Design

http://atlasofemotions.org/#introduction/ (Live data)

This project intrigues me in its aspect of collecting and visualizing relatively intangible data, which are represented by feelings and emotions. In collaboration with social scientists and data designers, the initial idea of creating a single map grew into a collection of maps that analyze different emotions individually (anger, fear, sadness, disgust, and enjoyment). Because there are no preexisting data models of emotions, researchers and designers worked together to draw out many rounds of visualizations on paper first and translated those onto the actual model. 

This project’s primary goal was to resolve the gap between academic findings and personal experiences. The methodology of solving these questions is through data visualization that first had to begin with sketching discussions and first-hand data collection.