Ravelry Designers (www.morganwallace.com/ravelry) is an image-focused visualization which displays information on 483 patterns from five different designers. Our goal was to use the pattern database to create a visualization that would inspire knitters to be creative by helping them discover designs they might not have seen before.
Ravelry is an online social network site designed for fibre artists. Its yarn and pattern databases help find materials and designs for knitting, crocheting, and weaving projects. With over three million members, the site also serves as space where users can gain design inspiration by viewing the work of others.
Our intended audience are avid Ravelry users who knit often. They may or may not be familiar with the specific designers we chose, although we attempted to pick designers who are well known across Ravelry, and have designed patterns across a variety of knitting categories.
In our visualization, a graph shows the relative popularity of patterns, with the most liked patterns towards the top, and the most often made patterns to the right. Filters are available to the left of the graph, which provide interactivity, allowing the user to explore our data.
Below the graph is a grid of images, which pulls out the primary image for each pattern, and provides the pattern name, designer, and price. Viewers can use the image grid to randomly show a subset of our patterns. Initial feedback has shown us that our visualization successfully helps knitters find new designs and inspire them to create.
– Morgan Wallace, Sandra Helsley, Sonny Vernard