It was so great to kick off our first Visual Dimensions episode with Rob Simmon, art director of NASA’s Earth Observatory! Brandon and Rob discussed use of color in visualizations as well as visual mapping strategies. We had a slight glitch with the Q&A during recording, but you can find the questions that were asked and Rob’s answers here:

Q: The mariner 4 images look like craypas (aka pastels) what was the actual affect being used there?

A: Colored pastels (Rembrandt) Check out http://directedplay.com/first_tv_image_of_mars.html & http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA14033.

Q: How would you choose colors for contrasting categoric variables?

A: I have written about this here: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/elegantfigures/2013/08/12/subtleties-of-color-part-3-of-6/ under the “categorical data” subhead.

Q: So we’ve covered scales. How do you go about choosing a contrasting qualitative scale?

A: Check out: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/elegantfigures/2013/08/12/subtleties-of-color-part-3-of-6/

Here are some cool additional data visualization resources:

• HelpMeViz: HelpMeViz is community of people working together to critique and improve each other’s data visualizations.
• Thumbs Up Viz: This site is a showcase of interesting implementations of maps and data visualizations.
• NASA Earth Observatory: The Earth Observatory showcases many different maps taken as a part of the research happening at the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Look out for next month’s vodcast, where we will be exploring content strategy for educational interactives with Council On Foreign Relations and we’ll get an exclusive tour of their interactive publishing tool, with Jeremy Sherlick, Deputy Director of Multimedia at Council On Foreign Relations.

Introducing Phase2’s video podcast project titled, Visual Dimensions. This monthly vodcast series gives you an opportunity to participate in an open conversation with industry experts about the latest strategies and tools for developing visualizations and interactive experiences!

Our first vodcast, on February 20th, will be co-hosted by NASA’s visualization expert, Robert Simmon who will discuss best practices for creating visualizations for NASA’s Earth Observatory. From use of color, to image choice, to use of symbols in mapping, Rob will take us through his tried and tested process for visually communicating data about our world.

Register here for this month’s Visual Dimensions Vodcast, happening on February 20th at 11AM EST:  “It's Not Rocket Science! - Creating NASA's Data Visualizations”