VizThink Blog

Podcast & New VizThink Europe Facilitator: Christian Behrens

People have said that human’s are good, even great, pattern matchers.  So much so, that we often find patterns where they don’t exist (such as messages in the static on TV, Elvis on a potato chip).  Yet sometimes, people discover or at least make clear patterns that were always present, but not always evident. In fact, I suppose it could be said that one of the goals of visual thinking is to discover or make clear patterns that were present, but not evident.  Well today’s podcast definitely achieves that goal with Christian Behrens, Research Assistant at the Interaction Design Lab in Potsdam, Germany.  In this podcast, we discuss a variety of topics such as:

• Converting tables of numbers into visual stories
• Finding patterns and relationships in the ways of displaying data and information
• Uncovering the types relationships between patterns
• Using patterns and avoiding limitations
• Getting started with tools for using information design patterns

Check out the 37-minute discussion here:

For his Master’s thesis at the Potsdam University of Applied Science, Christian wrote a book entitled The Form of Facts and Figures and created the associated website Information Design Patterns which contains an interactive version of his thesis.  While the book is not avaialable in print, the site is filled with useful information and is a valuable tool for both study and for inspiration.

We’re excited to announce that Christian will be bringing his work to VizThink Europe ‘08 in October where it will be a powerful topic for discussion.  Our website has a complete list of VizThink Berlin facilitators and sessions can be found on our wiki.  To learn more about his work first hand, be sure to Register Now to reserve your space at this exciting event.