i'm finding more and more i am applying data visualization principles to designing every-day UI because a lot of UI is becoming about managing user generated content. lately i explicitly prompt for bespoke tools to explore the design space for a particular problem, often because instead of mocking a design with wireframes i can generate views of it using actual data. in these cases the design process becomes more about filtering, zooming and checking assumptions to see what emerges rather than chiseling a template to squeeze production data thru after-the-fact. with these tools feedback becomes another round, another batch to pan for gold.