Mark-Jan Bludau | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Meandering Photo Lines: Fluid Multiscale Exploration of Photographic Archives

We introduce a visualization that interweaves spatial and temporal structures of photo collections into explorable pathways. Existing photo browsing interfaces typically use space and time separately for sorting, filtering, or mapping photos. What remains missing is an integrated visual form that represents the photographic journey itself. This is particularly relevant for the individual photographer's archive, where their unique lifeline is written into the collection, and it is this spatiotemporal trajectory that gives necessary context and meaning to the work. Inspired by the winding nature of rivers, fluid interaction, and un/foldable visualizations, Meandering Photo Lines visualizes adjustable pathways through a photo collection across space, time, and topics. Two complementary views enable visual exploration at different scales: A grid-based arrangement of photo clusters offers a more analytical overview, while meandering spatiotemporal curves facilitate more serendipitous and reflective exploration. Animated transformations connect these two views seamlessly for multiscale navigation from spatiotemporal cluster signatures down to chronological photo series and individual photographs. We demonstrate our approach through two case studies: an archive of approximately 100,000 photographs documenting the Jewish diaspora life worldwide from 1978 to 2021 and a personal smartphone collection of around 20,000 pictures. Qualitative feedback from a think-aloud study indicates that our approach supports both analytical examination and curiosity-driven engagement.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2024

Complexity as Design Material

Complexity is often seen as a inherent negative in information design, with the job of the designer being to reduce or eliminate complexity, and with principles like Tufte's "data-ink ratio" or "chartjunk" to operationalize minimalism and simplicity in visualizations. However, in this position paper, we call for a more expansive view of complexity as a design material, like color or texture or shape: an element of information design that can be used in many ways, many of which are beneficial to the goals of using data to understand the world around us. We describe complexity as a phenomenon that occurs not just in visual design but in every aspect of the sensemaking process, from data collection to interpretation. For each of these stages, we present examples of ways that these various forms of complexity can be used (or abused) in visualization design. We ultimately call on the visualization community to build a more nuanced view of complexity, to look for places to usefully integrate complexity in multiple stages of the design process, and, even when the goal is to reduce complexity, to look for the non-visual forms of complexity that may have otherwise been overlooked.

cs.HC↗