1. The Cognitive Design Principles of Interactive Visual Analytics
Mike Driscoll, Founder/CEO, Metamarkets

2. Our Challenge
The reason we got started at Metamarkets: Our founding members said, there’s no one providing an interface that is a joyful experience for exploring real-time data (we may not be able to see the future like Tom Cruise, but perhaps we can interact with data like he did!). This was an especially big challenge in data-intensive markets with large-scale data. Metamarkets chose programmatic marketing, because we saw it as one of those challenging marketplaces producing large scale data. There was (and still is) extraordinary pressure to unleash that data to transform digital marketing.

3. Building a Foundation
There was also no backend for being able to aggregate, store, process that data in a real-time fashion. We never wanted to be a database company. But we had to figure out the back-end foundation, so we built Druid because there was no other solution available., which allowed us to use it to build on the mission of interactive access to large scale data.
That created a way that Metamarkets could provide a solution for interactive analytics. Druid gave us a data store that could process/cleanse that data. With Druid and this useable interface we built, that there was an opportunity for Metamarkets to make an impact. We’ve since become one of the leaders in programmatic marketing and the industry standard for interactive analytics.
In parallel, Druid has become this open-source tool, adopted by the world's largest organization etc. Big companies like Alibaba, PayPal etc. Only solution to solve for needs of high-dimensional data.

4. Building a Foundation
There was also no backend for being able to aggregate, store, process that data in a real-time fashion. We never wanted to be a database company. But we had to figure out the back-end foundation, so we built Druid because there was no other solution available., which allowed us to use it to build on the mission of interactive access to large scale data.
That created a way that Metamarkets could provide a solution for interactive analytics. Druid gave us a data store that could process/cleanse that data. With Druid and this useable interface we built, that there was an opportunity for Metamarkets to make an impact. We’ve since become one of the leaders in programmatic marketing and the industry standard for interactive analytics.
In parallel, Druid has become this open-source tool, adopted by the world's largest organization etc. Big companies like Alibaba, PayPal etc. Only solution to solve for needs of high-dimensional data.

5. Why Cognitive Psychology Matters #1: Visualization
size
shape
orientation
texture
contrast
color
Data consumption is principally, if not entirely, a visual task. Analytical results must be displayed in a way that minimizes cognitive load while maximizing understanding. To do this effectively, we almost always employ data visualization.
Source:

6. Why Cognitive Psychology Matters #2: Navigation
Exploration of data requires navigation. How users interact with a set of core navigational primitives – filtering, sorting, panning – needs to be intuitive and follow a learnable mental model.

7. Cognitive Principles of Data Visualization
Choose Form to Follow Function
Strive for Parsimony
Use Shared Visual Vocabulary

8. Viz Principle #1: Choose Form to Follow Function
Use the minimum number of retinal variables. In this case, we’ve already encoded the category with position -- we do not need to also encode color.

9. Viz Principle #2: Strive for Parsimonyvs
Rarely do you need more than 3 significant figures in any numeric display.
Digits on the left contain 10X more valuable information than those to their right.
Thus 3 significant figures spans 3 orders of magnitude.

10. Viz Principle #3: Use Shared Visual Vocabularies
This is the world's oldest time series graph, showing planetary movements, from a 10th century Macrobius manuscript. pic.twitter.com/n34iK8eMaK.

11. Viz Principle #3: Use Shared Visual Vocabularies
Here we’re mapping hot colors to red and yellow, cool to black. This seems reasonable.

12. Cognitive Principles of Data Navigation
Allow Direct Manipulation
Give Instant Feedback
Avoid Modes
Encourage Playful Exploration

13. Nav Principle #1: Allow Direct Manipulation
Allow Direct Action on visual elements.
Place Controls near/on targets - avoid “spooky action at a distance”
When possible… of course this is sometimes not achievable. Think of a light switch for a room… hard to make ceiling lights directly manipulable. But then again, think of the number of times you’ve spent looking for light switches in a new place.

14. Nav Principle #1: Allow Direct Manipulation
This is a counterexample from a Microsoft product. Columns must be manipulated at a distance, not directly.

15. Nav Principle #2: Give Instant Feedback
“If there is any delay in that feedback loop, between thinking of something and seeing it, and building on it, then there is this whole world of ideas which will just never be.” - Bret Victor

16. Nav Principle #3: Avoid Modes
Humans preer

17. Nav Principle #3: Avoid Modes

18. Nav Principle #4: Encourage Playful Exploration
Enable Easy Reversal of Actions
Expose Data Navigational Primitives of: Search, Filter (include/exclude), Sort, Pan & Zoom (for time), Relate (join, nest, cross)

20. Mike Driscoll, Founder/CEO, Metamarkets @medriscoll, @metamarkets
Further Reading:
Colin Ware, Information Visualization
Jeff Johnson, Designing with the Mind in Mind
Bret Victor, Designing on Principle (Talk)
Dana Wong, WSJ Guide to Information Graphics
Mike Driscoll, Founder/CEO, Metamarkets