Blog #4- Modeling Visualizing

Toulmin's Model for Visualizing

People take in the world, visually. There are a multitude of different learning styles: auditory, linguistic, kinesthetic, but one of the most predominant is visual learning. In addition to logic-based questions, IQ tests also include questions on visual-spacial thinking. You can give someone a table of information and they will retain some of it, but if you give them a graph, they will be able to see patterns and more effectively remember the data.

Infographs, visually pleasing expressions of information, are becoming increasingly more popular in the media and online. Sites such as www.informationisbeautiful.net shows different studies by graphs, diagrams, and other visual techniques. You can give a table of different budgets and expenses, but numbers on a page don't show the extent of costs than looking at a huge block of expenses on the war to the relatively small block to feed every child in the world for a year. Even writing this in words doesn't provide the best representation, so I'll include the infograph as well.

Now earlier I explained about multiple learning styles, so it's true that not everybody perceives the world visually. Some people are less fortunate so they physically can't view the world in this way. However, as far as most people, visual examples help learning and getting points across.

As engineers, we need to visualize models even before they're completed. When sculpting the David, Michelangelo was able to see the completed masterpiece and chip away marble that wasn't a part of it. Without the finished project in mind, he would have never made the work of art as detailed or as amazing as it is.

People say the best directors are those who can already see the final film even before they start filming. Then they spend the whole project is trying to turn that vision into a reality. Same applies for engineers. We need to visualize the finished project and work towards that. With no end-goal in mind, it's just aimless working.

I am an engineer by trade, but an artist at heart. However, there is a way of combining design and engineering for my profession and future. I will always use my visualization skills both on the drawing board and off. It's a valuable tool to both take in and express the world visually, for better understanding for yourself and to others.

References:
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/the-billion-dollar-gram/
http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htm