Juicy Interactive Visualization: Evaluating How Excessive Feedback Design Shapes Visualization Engagement

2026-10-06

AI Summary

This study addresses the absence of a systematic framework for interactive visual feedback design, which constrains the optimization of user engagement. By adapting the concept of "juiciness" from game research to visualization, this work proposes the JuicyVIS theoretical framework and constructs a three-dimensional design space encompassing interaction type, timing, and intensity. The framework is empirically validated through 26 prototypes and mixed-methods online experiments. Results demonstrate that post-interaction feedback significantly enhances user engagement and aesthetic experience, although merely increasing feedback intensity yields diminishing returns. This research establishes feedback as a core design material, providing both a theoretical foundation and practical guidelines for optimizing interactions in visualization systems.

Abstract

Visualization research has long examined embellishment and animation, while the design of rich interaction-contingent feedback remains under-articulated as a systematic design space. We introduce JuicyVIS, a theory-informed operationalization of juicy feedback for interactive visualization that translates ideas from game studies into a visualization-centered framework. JuicyVIS introduces three dimensions, interaction type, feedback timing, and feedback intensity, which we explore through 26 controlled prototypes, grounded in established visualization interaction categories and prior work on juicy feedback in games. We evaluate the juicy design space through three exploratory mixed-methods online studies. Results show that juicy feedback was consistently associated with higher engagement and aesthetic experience, while the clearest gains came from post-interaction feedback, not, for example, by simply increasing intensity. We discuss how juicy feedback can be thought of as a design material in visualizations, shaping how visualization interactions feel, how action consequences are perceived, and how users remain engaged with data representations.

Innovation

• JuicyVIS
• Interactive Visualization
• Feedback Design
• User Engagement
• Game-inspired Framework