Stefanie Posavec

stefanieposavec.com
@stefpos
Stefanie Posavec is a London-based designer for whom information and data are her favoured creative materials. Her practice focuses on creating non-traditional (physical, danceable, wearable, or experiential) representations of data for all ages and audiences, often using a hand-crafted approach.

This work has been exhibited internationally at major galleries including the V&A, the Design Museum, Somerset House, and the Wellcome Collection (London), the Centre Pompidou (Paris), and MoMA (New York). Recent art residencies include the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London. Her work is also in the permanent collection of MoMA, New York.

Her illustrated all-ages book co-written with Miriam Quick will be published through Particular Books / Penguin Random House in Autumn 2020. Previous books (co-authored with Giorgia Lupi) include Dear Data and their journal Observe, Collect, Draw!
Session
You’re Doing it 'Wrong'

I’ve spent my career working with data in ways that are considered ‘wrong’ or not in line with ‘best’ practices as per data orthodoxy.

By adhering to best practices, could we be missing out on the *best* parts of dataviz through these inherent limitations? What value can you find when you explicitly set out to do the opposite of what you are ‘supposed’ to do?

This talk is a celebration of being contrary, of what there is to gain when we are wilfully, perversely, and joyously ‘wrong’ in how we work with and communicate data. I’ll also share recent projects that use data for the ‘wrong’ reasons, and confess moments in my own creative practice where (shock horror!) I’ve even been wrong myself.



Workshop
WORKSHOP: Data Life Drawing

TUESDAY, JUNE 14th • 9:00AM • WALKER ART CENTER



A special version of Stefanie’s ‘Data Drawing Class’ workshop, updated and expanded for a special Eyeo audience.



OVERVIEW

For this workshop, data is our life model. How would your approach and sensibility within a data-driven project change if you started exploring visualization approaches through sketching with charcoal instead of using code or spreadsheet software? Starting a data project by sketching by hand introduces novel ways of thinking, and leads to designs that are uniquely customized for the specific type of data problems we are working with.



The workshop begins by providing a basic overview of data visualization as seen though the lens of drawing, also looking at artists who create rule-based drawings or draw data as part of their practice.



Participants then undertake a series of timed drawing exercises where they work with the constraints inherent in a single stick of black charcoal, applying techniques found in traditional drawing classes to data visualization, and exploring quick experimental strategies for pushing their custom visualization ideas into new spaces.



The afternoon will focus on using the strategies tested in the morning to sketch a class dataset, thinking about the creation of a visualization system through using a handmade design process, exploring variability in mark-making and material as a way to communicate information, and how to take visual inspiration from what you see to guide your data drawing



By the end of this workshop, you'll both better understand the custom data visualization design process and also have access to a variety of off-screen creative strategies for working with data and shaping its aesthetic (even if you move onto your computer / into code at a later point!)



SKILL LEVEL: Intermediate



WORKSHOP OUTLINE:
- Introduction to rule-based drawing as an approach to creating a data visualization

- Drawing challenges merging traditional drawing exercises with data to build creative confidence and push experimentation

- Basic data analysis for designers

- The custom data visualization design process

- The role of architecture within a custom visualization design



WHAT TO BRING:
Nothing. The entire workshop will be off-screen, using nothing more than black charcoal, pastels, newsprint, and other traditional drawing materials. All materials will be supplied.





REGISTRATION FEE: $329
MATERIALS FEE: $10