Context
I co-teach a summer pre-term workshop (in-person at Harvard's Allston SEAS campus), introducing the 30 incoming graduate students of the Harvard's Masters in Design Engineering program to foundation technical and representational skills in information design.
In a mix of lectures and guided student work time, we cover a variety of data analysis techniques, introduce basic design and coding tools, and introduce basic visual encoding and design principles to set the bar for student work during the full semester.
Impact
Over the course of a week, students from a mix of backgrounds (design, engineering, business, and more) are introduced to the data visualization process, structured around the inputs and outputs of information design. Students share a 3-minute demo of their work at the end for class critique.
Due to the variety of student backgrounds, we introduce a variety of tools ranging from low-code data tools represented in Figma to beginner-friendly P5.js sketches to supporting fully implemented technical data visualizations with APIs and data visualization libraries like D3.js.