But, on to the topic at hand. I leave some conferences feeling like I heard all the same things I heard last year--those are the conferences that just feel draining to me. But this conference is not one of those kinds. The AEA conference is one that I leave feeling extremely energized, with tons of new ideas. There were so many sessions I wanted to attend, and so many that I couldn't attend because of the overlapping times. The sessions that were most interesting to me this year were ones focused on data visualization, graphic design, and using technology to improve evaluation.
The data visualization folks mentioned the standard Edward Tufte books (which I own thanks to Will Litzler), but they also mentioned a new name I had not heard before: Stephen Few. I'm going to have to check his books out- maybe see if my local library carries any of them. Another presenter, Stephanie Evergreen, suggested Ellen Lupton's website (and book?) called Thinking with Type. She also recommended "Design Elements" by Timothy Samara.
I was thinking- maybe I have a second calling in Graphic Design? Not that I am good at it--but I find it so interesting. I hardly have time to keep up with the literature in my own field, so I don't know how I am going to find time to check out all this graphic design stuff. But, I like learning new things and I really do believe that good design impacts learning and usage of things like the evaluation reports I write. So, I want to do a better job of communicating my data and my stories to my clients.
Here is an example of a "Bullet graph". I am not sure if I had ever seen one before, but this type of graph is able to convey a lot of information in a relatively small space. I like it!
jpg from community.softwarefx.com
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