  Design study is an established approach of conducting problem-driven
visualization research. The academic visualizationcommunity has produced a
large body of work for reporting on design studies, informed by a handful of
theoretical frameworks, andapplied to a broad range of application areas. The
result is an abundance of reported insights into visualization design, with
anemphasis on novel visualization techniques and systems as the primary
contribution of these studies. In recent work we proposeda new, interpretivist
perspective on design study and six companion criteria for rigor that highlight
the opportunities for researchersto contribute knowledge that extends beyond
visualization idioms and software. In this work we conducted a year-long
collaborationwith evolutionary biologists to develop an interactive tool for
visual exploration of multivariate datasets and phylogenetic trees. Duringthis
design study we experimented with methods to support three of the rigor
criteria:ABUNDANT,REFLEXIVE, andTRANSPARENT. As aresult we contribute two novel
visualization techniques for the analysis of multivariate phylogenetic
datasets, three methodologicalrecommendations for conducting design studies
drawn from reflections over our process of experimentation, and two writing
devices forreporting interpretivist design study. We offer this work as an
example for implementing the rigor criteria to produce a diverse range
ofknowledge contributions.
