Points of View

Points of View is a monthly column published by Nature Methods that deals with the fundamental aspects of visual presentation applicable to anyone who works with visual representation of data. The column author, Bang Wong, is an AMI member and the creative director at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Each month he focuses on a particular aspect of data presentation or visualization and provides easy-to-apply tips on how to create effective presentations. Through special arrangements with Nature Publishing Group, the current column of each month will be made freely accessible for a period of one month.

Current Column:

December 2012: Visualizing biological data
Researchers today have access to an unprecedented amount of data. The challenge is to benefit from this abundance without being overwhelmed. Data visualization for efficient exploration and effective communication is integral to scientific progress. For visualization to continue to be an important tool for discovery, its practitioners need to be present as members of research teams. Read more…

Past Columns:

• November 2012: Pencil and paper
• October 2012: Power of the plane
• September 2012: Into the third dimension
• August 2012: Mapping quantitative data to color
• July 2012: Representing genomic structural variation
• June 2012: Managing deep data in genome browsers
• May 2012: Representing the genome
• April 2012: Integrating data
• March 2012: Heat maps
• February 2012: Networks
• January 2012: Data exploration
• December 2011: The design process
• November 2011: Salience to relevance
• October 2011: Layout
• September 2011: Arrows
• August 2011: Simplify to clarify
• July 2011: Avoiding color
• June 2011: Color blindness
• May 2011: The overview figure
• April 2011: Typography
• March 2011: Points of review (part 2)
• February 2011: Points of review (part 1)
• January 2011: Negative space
• December 2010: Gestalt Principles (Part 2)
• November 2010: Gestalt Principles (Part 1)
• October 2010: Salience
• September 2010: Design of Data Figures
• August 2010: Color coding