Illustrating Creative Applications of Data and Technology: A Visual Vocabulary

Contemporary technologies and data-driven methods have much potential to support innovation in the creative industries - from design and craft, to film and music. However, discussing and understanding the applied potential of data and technology can be especially difficult for creative practitioners who have limited previous experience with data-driven research and development. In this pictorial, we address this challenge through the design, and initial evaluation, of a ‘Visual Vocabulary’ of illustrations aimed to scaffold creative practitioners’ thinking about how they might employ a diverse range of data and technology to address their creative and business challenges. The illustrations serve as a resource for subverting common imageries of technologies and computational methods in popular media - which often fail to showcase their many creative affordances. Moreover, as an ideation card deck, they also serve to support discussion and exploration of new data-driven projects for creative practitioners.