VISiUN. Designing Data Visualisations to Uncover and Navigate Uncertainty

Design is integral to how data is communicated, shaping perception, interpretation, and trust. In data visualisation, a pursuit of accuracy often results in a presentation of certainty, failing to represent the inherent complexity and uncertainty of data. VISiUN explores visual design strategies to reveal both quantitative uncertainty and qualitative uncertainty in data. In particular, we will study visualisations that communicate astronomical data in casual contexts to adolescents. Following a research-through-design methodology, we iteratively design and evaluate casual visualisations to assess the performance of our guidelines before real-world implementation. In the early stages, we employ co-design methods to engage stakeholders and understand how they navigate uncertainty in visualised data. Subsequently, we develop a prototype that highlights a specific type of uncertainty and evaluate its effectiveness through a mixed-methods approach. By defining design guidelines to integrate uncertainty into casual visualisations, this research contributes to more transparent and trustworthy visual communication of complex data.