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Scaling Data Physicalization – How Does Size Influence Experience?

Published: 14 February 2021 Publication History

Abstract

Given the material nature of data physicalization, their creators need to make many design decisions, including material choices and scale. Our study explores the impact of scale in physicalization, motivated by the assumption that size can affect user experience. We created two different physicalizations (for the same dataset) in three sizes each, and evaluated the resulting six objects with a questionnaire approach and interviews. Our findings highlight that scale needs to be chosen wisely given its impact on representation legibility (ease of viewing and understanding) and affordances for interaction. We discuss factors to take into account when designing large-scale physicalizations and in further research on the potential role of scale in physicalizaton. In particular, we argue that for large-scale physicalizations, scale should matter and communicate meaning, for instance, supporting an intuitive understanding of magnitudes, or a specific experience. Thus, scale needs to be an explicit design decision, that interacts with other design parameters.

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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    TEI '21: Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction
    February 2021
    908 pages
    ISBN:9781450382137
    DOI:10.1145/3430524
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    Published: 14 February 2021

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    Author Tags

    1. Design
    2. InfoViz
    3. Materiality
    4. Scale
    5. affordances for action
    6. legibility
    7. user experience
    8. user study

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    TEI '21 Paper Acceptance Rate 40 of 136 submissions, 29%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 393 of 1,367 submissions, 29%

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    • (2025)AR versus Physical Data Representations: A Comparison of User Engagement and Spatial Exploration PatternsProceedings of the Nineteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3689050.3704946(1-16)Online publication date: 4-Mar-2025
    • (2024)`A Fair Game?': Using Narrative Sensification and Embodied Metaphors for AwarenessProceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3623509.3633375(1-12)Online publication date: 11-Feb-2024
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