Visualizationary: Automating Design Feedback for Visualization Designers using LLMs

Abstract: Interactive visualization editors empower users to author visualizations without writing code, but do not provide guidance on the art and craft of effective visual communication. In this paper, we explore the potential of using an off-the-shelf LLMs to provide actionable and customized feedback to visualization designers. Our implementation, VISUALIZATIONARY, demonstrates how ChatGPT can be used for this purpose through two key components: a preamble of visualization design guidelines and a suite of perceptual filters that extract salient metrics from a visualization image. We present findings from a longitudinal user study involving 13 visualization designers-6 novices, 4 intermediates, and 3 experts-who authored a new visualization from scratch over several days. Our results indicate that providing guidance in natural language via an LLM can aid even seasoned designers in refining their visualizations. All our supplemental materials are available at https://osf.io/v7hu8.