CSEP 590a Data Visualization

University of Washington, Winter 2025

The world is awash in data, and we must keep afloat with our relatively constant perceptual and cognitive abilities. Visualization provides one means of resisting information overload, as a well-designed visual encoding can supplant cognitive calculations with simpler perceptual inferences and improve comprehension, memory, and decision making. Visual representations may also help engage more diverse audiences in the process of analytic thinking.

In this course we will study techniques and algorithms for creating effective visualizations based on principles from graphic design, statistics, perceptual psychology, and cognitive science. Students will design and build interactive visualizations for the web, using the Vega-Lite and D3.js frameworks.

In addition to class discussions and exercises, students will complete visualization design and data analysis assignments, as well as a final project.

Instructors

Jeffrey Heer, Professor, Computer Science & Engineering
Will (Huichen) Wang, Ph.D. Student, Computer Science & Engineering
Parum Misri, B.S. Student, Computer Science & Engineering

Course Info

Lecture: Tue 6:30–9:20pm, Gates Center (CSE2), Room G10
Lecture Videos: Look under “Panopto Recordings” on Canvas
Announcements and Q&A: Ed Discussion
Course Policies

Textbooks

Interactive Data Visualization for the Web, 2nd Edition. Scott Murray, O’Reilly Press. To read online, use the “O’Reilly (Formerly Safari)” link on the UW library page. Code examples are available on GitHub.
Vega-Lite Visualization Notebook Curriculum. Jeffrey Heer, Dominik Moritz, Jake VanderPlas & Brock Craft. These notebooks are included as part of this site!.

Learning Goals & Objectives

This course is designed to provide students with the foundations necessary for understanding and extending the current state of the art in data visualization. By the end of the course, students will have gained: