Review-through-Making: Developing a Tangible Vocabulary of Data Physicalization

Designing data physicalizations is often exploratory, tactile, and shaped by making rather than predefined tools or methods. This raises a key question: can making itself serve as a method to review and reflect on data physicalizations? In this work, we introduce ‘Review-through-Making’, an approach in which designers create, manipulate, and analyze physical models to uncover patterns and build a tangible vocabulary for data physicalization. This vocabulary guides the exploration of physicalizations, supports workshops, and facilitates educational activities. Our findings show that making transforms the review process into an iterative, hands-on exploration of a design space, enabling thematic and reflective analysis. We situate Review-through-Making within the broader context of Research-through-Design and discuss its limitations, particularly regarding literature reviews. By framing making as a first-person method for reviewing designs, we highlight its potential to enrich both practice and pedagogy in data physicalization.