Design, Visualization, and Cognition Lab

We study how people judge, design, and act through technologies when evidence is incomplete and procedures leave room for interpretation.

Our work brings HCI and design research to questions about professional practice, data visualization, and coordinated activity. We study how people create and use visual representations, exercise judgment in complex systems, and sustain user experience in scientific infrastructure.

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Research

Design Practice and Judgment

How designers frame situations, adapt methods, and use knowledge and inspiration in professional UX and data visualization practice.

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Cognition and Coordination in Complex Systems

How people, interactive representations, and organizations support sensemaking and decision making.

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Human-Centered Scientific Infrastructure

How scientific teams understand users, evaluate technologies, and sustain UX work over time.

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Projects

Understanding Visualization Design Practice

NSF CAREER

Ongoing · 2022–2027

Understanding professional visualization design practice through judgment, framing, and design knowledge.

Project story

User Experience for Science Gateways

SGX3

Ongoing · 2022–2027

UX research and engagement with science-gateway teams.

Project story

Supporting Decisions in Space Habitats

NASA / RETHi

Completed

Operational expertise and interfaces for habitat monitoring.

Project story

Selected papers

2026 · Journal article

Beyond Problem Solving: Framing and Problem–Solution Co-Evolution in Data Visualization DesignBest Paper · IEEE VIS 2025

Paul C. Parsons; Prakash Chandra Shukla

IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics

Data visualization Design practice & methods Cognition & judgment

Paper DOI Listen to podcast Watch talk

Cite

Paul C. Parsons; Prakash Chandra Shukla. 2026. Beyond Problem Solving: Framing and Problem–Solution Co-Evolution in Data Visualization Design. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2025.3633866

BibTeX

BibTeX citation

@article{pub-85,
  title = {Beyond Problem Solving: Framing and Problem–Solution Co-Evolution in Data Visualization Design},
  author = {Paul C. Parsons and Prakash Chandra Shukla},
  year = {2026},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics},
  doi = {10.1109/TVCG.2025.3633866},
  url = {https://www.dvclab.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Parsons-and-Shukla-2026-Beyond-Problem-Solving-Framing-and-Problem–Solution-Co-Evolution-in-Data-Visualization-Design.pdf},
  keywords = {data visualization, design cognition, design practice, design theory}
}

2026 · Conference paper

Myths and Ironies of AI-Assisted Design

Paul C. Parsons

ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '26)

Design practice & methods Cognition & judgment AI

Paper

Cite

Paul C. Parsons. 2026. Myths and Ironies of AI-Assisted Design. ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '26).

BibTeX

BibTeX citation

@inproceedings{pub-94,
  title = {Myths and Ironies of AI-Assisted Design},
  author = {Paul C. Parsons},
  year = {2026},
  booktitle = {ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '26)},
  url = {https://www.dvclab.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Ironies_and_Myths_of_AI_in_Design-10.pdf},
  keywords = {AI, design cognition, design practice, design theory}
}

2026 · Conference paper

Talking Inspiration: A Discourse Analysis of Data Visualization Podcasts

Ali Baigelenov; Prakash Shukla; Phuong Bui; Paul Parsons

Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

Data visualization Cognition & judgment

Paper DOI

Cite

Ali Baigelenov; Prakash Shukla; Phuong Bui; Paul Parsons. 2026. Talking Inspiration: A Discourse Analysis of Data Visualization Podcasts. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26). https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791537

BibTeX

BibTeX citation

@inproceedings{pub-89,
  title = {Talking Inspiration: A Discourse Analysis of Data Visualization Podcasts},
  author = {Ali Baigelenov and Prakash Shukla and Phuong Bui and Paul Parsons},
  year = {2026},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)},
  doi = {10.1145/3772318.3791537},
  url = {https://www.dvclab.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/chi26-1259.pdf},
  keywords = {data visualization, design theory}
}

2025 · Conference paper

Rethinking UX for Sustainable Science Gateways: Orientations from Practice

Paul C. Parsons

10th Annual Conference on Science Gateways (Gateways '25)

UX & interaction Science gateways

Paper

Cite

Paul C. Parsons. 2025. Rethinking UX for Sustainable Science Gateways: Orientations from Practice. 10th Annual Conference on Science Gateways (Gateways '25).

BibTeX

BibTeX citation

@inproceedings{pub-87,
  title = {Rethinking UX for Sustainable Science Gateways: Orientations from Practice},
  author = {Paul C. Parsons},
  year = {2025},
  booktitle = {10th Annual Conference on Science Gateways (Gateways '25)},
  url = {https://www.dvclab.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Parsons_2025_Gateways-UX-Sustainability.pdf},
  keywords = {science gateways, UX}
}

All publications

DVC Lab members together in 2024 — From the lab archive · February 2024 · More lab photos

People & contributions

Meet the people behind the research and explore the contributions of lab alumni.

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