The talk will introduce ideas around design as an agent of change and how designed visual communications can operate within the field of argument visualisation.The opportunities present within the the EPSRC-funded platform for Election Debate Visualisation in 2015 allow for design to (re)invent within an area of critical need, situating the power of design and data visualisation in the service of telling compelling, engaging and illuminating stories to the audiences of the Prime Ministerial debates. Focusing on the inherent tensions between neutrality and visual clarity, and the power for beautiful design to allow of accessibility, the presentation will outline some challenges for the team in the creation of research tools, interfaces and visualisations and will touch upon some thoughts around methods for making and methods for testing the platform’s design prototypes.

Click to download the slides from this presentation (12Mb PDF file).