Visualizing Emotions

Emotions, variable, complex, and somewhat unique, can be categorized in terms of valence and intensity. While looking into our daily emotional journeys, we might understand what triggers emotions and how long they last each time. For that, one needs to relate them to time, place, and people. That is, with context. Context, a pillar of information design, is what allows us to transform raw and unintelligible data into information and even, as in this case, to know ourselves better. This study focuses on a problem-based learning (PBL) exercise developed at IADE—Universidade Europeia, in Lisbon, Portugal. The task asked students to map their emotions by collecting, compiling, and structuring data on how they felt during one specific week. With a data humanism approach, emphasizing the human experience and its inherent complexity, they were invited to describe and relate their mental states visually. The goal was to both choose and combine information visualization models that would better fit into the theme and convey the information while developing a distinctive visual language. By exploring a more humanistic approach to information design, the students gained a deeper understanding of themselves and others, as well as the power of visualization techniques to convey their story. The findings indicate that emotional visualization enhances reflective learning, supports emotional literacy, and strengthens students’ ability to interpret subjective data.