Lift your data visualisation game.
For design consultancy: xavier@jtg.design.
Much software today are built for one-hit wonders just in time. Endless dashboards. Thousands of configurations. Once the teams built it, they leave, and no one is left to maintain it, and thus the cycle repeats.
This ecosystem sucks. Instead, I want to design timeless solutions. You are invited to embark on this journey with me to reduce wasted time building throw-away software. Let's aim for software that lasts longer than your next smartphone.
Sustainable software by design
Software should first and foremost empower the people, and add to the environment. We must recognise that software is not a solution, but an enhancement tool that helps us reach our goals.
Software sustainability is about designing systems to last. It's about choosing stable platforms and common standards. It's about documenting workflows and rationales in plain sight. If you're in a position to do so, it's also about choosing to tackle problems that require a long-term plan to solve.
Sustainable software treats people's precious time and attention with respect. It monitors its own performance, regulates small, known problems, and calls for human intervention only when necessary. This behaviour is not learned by default, but must be by design. Crafting software with good manners takes a lot of time.
Multidisciplinary by nature
I specialise in the design of near-real-time, geospatial and temporal data visualisations with five years of software engineering, plus five years of visual and interaction design. My past projects include water health monitoring, transport investment, air pollution awareness, and grain yield forecast.
My full-time academic position with Monash Art, Design, and Architecture is to teach interaction design from first principles. Prior to Monash, I worked for CSIRO as a senior software engineer, and I obtained my PhD in design with the University of Sydney. I actively conduct research with data visualisation with my colleagues.
Design consultancy available
I can bring your team up to speed, and work with you to design a data visualisation tool that suits your needs. My craft is built on strong engineering and design principles.
My clients are open-minded about bringing in design research and practical engineering disciplines, and have an appreciation for data work. If you'd like to chat about what we can do together, get in touch with me.
Public appearances
I like to talk about data visualisation, software sustainability, and programming as a creative pursuit. Depending on the nature of the event, I may charge a speaker fee.
Highlights
2019 | "Buidling trust in data" | KPMG Diversity in Data
2019 | "Ethical Intelligence" | Monash Future Thinkers
2018 | "WebGL: Latest Techniques" | SIGGRAPH Asia 2018
2018 | "Let's Make Functional Generative Art" | YOW! Lambda Jam, Web Directions Code
2017 | "Messy Sensor Data: A Programmer’s Cleaning Guide" | PyCon AU
2017 | "Visible Science" | SensiLab Forum (YouTube)
2016 | "Desigtn as Invitation to Interaction" | UNSW Seminars (recording)
2014 | "Seeing Design" | Sydney University Guest Lecture
Industry Talks
2019 | "Machine Learning on Graphs" | MelbDjango
2018 | "Towards Visualisation for StellarGraph" | VisMatters 2018
2018 | "Graph Visualisation: Elements for investigative analytics" | Canberra Datavis Meetup
2018 | "Transport Network Strategic Investment Tool" | Data61 Sci+Tech in the city
2018 | "Generative Art with Xavier Ho" | Elm Town Podcast
2018 | "Meet the Density Map" | Research Bazaar 2018
2018 | "Elements of Data Visualisation" | C3DIS Conference
2016 | "Roguelike-like-like: how a niche computer game genre exploded" | Nerd Nite Melbourne
2016 | "Smoke and Fire" | Digital Designer's Toolbox
Research
See conference and workshop appearances for the papers.