The Fuzzy Front Ends: Reflections on the Never-Ending Story of Visualization Co-Design
2026-02-13 • Human-Computer Interaction
Human-Computer Interaction
AI summaryⓘ
The authors describe their 2.5-year project working closely with a local arts community to design visual tools that help understand how arts funding is shared. They used multiple co-design sessions where both researchers and community members collaborated to create useful visualizations. Throughout the process, they often faced unclear early stages, which they call the 'fuzzy front end,' and they reflect on three examples of this challenge. By sharing their comic-style story, the authors aim to help others doing similar community-based design work in visualization.
Co-designHuman-Computer InteractionVisualizationCommunity EngagementSense-makingIterative DesignArts FundingPrototypingFuzzy Front EndCollaborative Design
Authors
Wei Wei, Foroozan Daneshzand, Zezhong Wang, Erica Mattson, Charles Perin, Sheelagh Carpendale
Abstract
Co-design is an increasingly popular approach in HCI and visualization, yet there is little guidance on how to effectively apply this method in visualization contexts. In this paper, we visually present our experience of a two-and-a-half-year co-design project with the local arts community. Focusing on facilitating community exploration and sense-making around arts funding distribution, the project involved a series of co-design sessions between visualization researchers and members of the arts community. Through these iterative sessions, we built shared understanding and developed visualization prototypes tailored to community needs. However, the practice is far from complete, and we found ourselves continually returning to the "fuzzy front end" of the co-design process. We share this ongoing story through comic-style visuals and reflect on three fuzzy front ends that we encountered during the project. By sharing these experiences with the visualization community, we hope to offer insights that others can draw on in their own community-engaged co-design work.