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From: eugene@nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.visualization
Subject: Re: Out of the lab, into the classroom 2nd try
Message-ID: <1991Apr4.235223.6474@nas.nasa.gov>
Date: 4 Apr 91 23:52:23 GMT
Sender: news@nas.nasa.gov
Reply-To: eugene@wilbur.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)
Organization: NAS Program, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Lines: 37

We have to shoot the stupid References: line in the header.... grrrr!

Dave wrote:
>Speaking from, an albeit limited, number  experiences in this area, do not
>underestimate the power of a pretty picture.  Sometimes you may even want to
>target color choices in a visualization based on the target audience.  If
>it's to a colleague who will question your choices, you may want to choose
>colors that are meaningful.  If it is a sales pitch to your management,
>investors, grant committees, et cetera, bold colors and richly saturated hues
>seem to work quite well.

I'll tell you a little story.  I was working for NASA HQ outside
Washington DC.  We had a visitor from the information systems office
of the White House.  He let us know of a presentation of some early
computer graphics which included bar graphs of $$ spent.  Bold colors
and all.  It didn't go over very well.  The $$ bar graphs were done in red.
You can argue: yes you have to know your audience (the language thing
Andy noted), but what can train you for these connotated effects?
Practically, nothing.

Pretty pictures helped start and stop the Cuban missile crisis, and
we recently went thru the "video game" game.  No I do not underestimate
the power of an image.  P.S. the local SIGGRAPH meeting on color
some years back (at H-P Corp HQ) was one of the most over-attended
meetings we ever held, we did not foresee the audience size.

>Lately I feel that everything is just marketing and that if you have an
>ineffective sales pitch, you can have the best idea in the world and it
>won't be received if it's not packaged properly.

Gregor Mendel had this problem at a time when a fellow named Darwin got lots
of publicity.  I really think you mean to have better communication tools.
No it is not all market, do be so cynical.  But, it APPEARS true.

--eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@orville.nas.nasa.gov
  Resident Cynic, Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers
  {uunet,mailrus,other gateways}!ames!eugene