The Role of Aesthetics and Perception in Raising Situation Awareness: Lessons from SpringRain

Abstract

In the face of increased cyber risks, we present our iterative design process and the resulting principles of SpringRain, an information visualization (infoVis) display design concept for large screens in network control rooms (NOCs). It aims to raise team situation awareness by visualizing large-scale multidimensional computer network data sets as a live “rainfall.” We used aesthetic principles and theories of perception to prototype this ambient, yet data-dense, visualization. By applying multiple data dimensions to different properties of a line segment, such as length, motion, and color, the two-dimensional visualization offers analytical affordances (i.e., graphic qualities that make it clear how the display should be “read”) that can be processed pre-attentively (i.e., under 200 ms). This grants that time-sensitive anomalies in the network can be noticed, processed, and addressed in a timely manner. Our design approach was driven by theories rather than existing design works in the hope of encouraging more user-centered theories-driven infoVis designs that are better suited to user needs and requirements. Expert reviewers’ feedback from the VAST 2013 Challenge committee confirmed the novelty of the design and pointed to opportunities for improvements. We discuss three redesign attempts to address some of the identified limitations.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank our team members, Yue Ma, Weiran Lei, and Shen-Kuen Chang, who all contributed to the design and prototyping of SpringRain in the Spring-Summer of 2013. We also thank the VAST Challenges 2013 Committee for their thoughtful feedback and encouragement to further develop SpringRain.

Notes

¹ SpringRain submission package: http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/VASTchallenge2013/MC2/PURDUE_Promann_MC2/.

² SpringRain’s animated prototype demo: http://www.interactiondesign.us/vast2013/springrain/Demo.html.

³ SpringRain’s animated prototype demo: http://www.interactiondesign.us/vast2013/springrain/Demo.html.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marlen Promann

Marlen Promann is an award-winning user experience researcher and designer. She received her BA (Honors) Design, and MSc in Media and Communications from London, UK. Approaching design as a cognitive and socio-cultural process, she studies human behaviors to inform design. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Data Experience.

Shuang Wei

Shuang Wei is a PhD student of Computer Graphics Technology, Purdue University. She works on data visualization. She visualized pronunciation information to help improve the pronunciation of international students and designed network visual displays to improve situational awareness. She also won two outstanding creative design awards from 2013 VAST Challenge.

Zhenyu Cheryl Qian

Dr. Zhenyu Cheryl Qian is an assistant professor of Interaction and Industrial Design at Purdue University. She received a BArch from Southeast University and MASc and PhD in Interactive Arts and Technology from Simon Fraser University. She explores design as a cognitive process, and analyzes behaviors to improve experience design.

Yingjie Victor Chen

Dr. Yingjie Victor Chen is an assistant professor in Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University. He received his BEng from Tsinghua University and MSc and PhD in Interaction Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University. His research covers interdisciplinary domains of infoVis, visual analytics, digital media, and human–computer interaction.