DATA + ART
Data & Art is a data visualization project, where I interpreted two datasets in both literal and conceptual contexts, via two different print mediums.
The datasets in question were 1) a collection of statistics I had from my time as a student athlete, and 2) the set of brushes I painted with during the same time that I was playing soccer at Gonzaga (while earning my minor in studio art).
The first dataset was based upon a set of analytics from the trackers we wore for each game and practice. These provided insights into quantifiables like: how far we ran, how fast, how hard, and (my personal favorite) how many times we were hit. I visualized the second dataset by scanning the objects, and developed a consistent technique of photographing the brushes that elongated the bristles and played on the nature/purpose of the object.
Because the athletics dataset and brushes were collected within the same timeframe, I felt that a marriage of the two collections — with one depicting the efforts of the other — would be emblematic of my career as an undergraduate (with the added benefit of providing more visual juxtaposition). I began to play with the data in very elemental and obvious ways, to test the efficacy of the combination. Once they were working, I started to adapt my compositions for their intended printed output.
The end result for my conceptual representation of the dataset was a combination of the bar-graph-to-brush-stroke compositions along with the finalized set of five alternatively colored, decontextualized heat maps.
