There is an art/science to turning data from a collection of numbers on a page into something that the mind can understand through the brain's ability to recognize patterns with the different senses. For example, associating numbers or letters with specific sounds can enable a human to listen to the data as "music" and hear auditory patterns. There is a word for the act of translating the numbers into sound (that is just an example, not my question). Similarly, numbers can be represented visually, such as in a graph, so that humans can recognize the numerical patterns through sight. I'm looking for the word that means translate numbers into a visually recognizable form.
Like a song that you can't get out of your head, I keep thinking I have seen the word "visualize" used in the sense of "make visually intuitive for other people", but I'm pretty sure that's not a recognized usage of the word. "Illustrate" is not the word I'm thinking of. That has a meaning more related to "make pretty" or "clarify with an example".
Edit: "Chart" or "graph" (verbs) are similar to the kind of word I'm looking for, but they refer to a specific type of representation. I'm looking for a more general term that applies to translating into any visually recognizable form.
Best Answer
In computer science and graphics, there is rendering. You are basically converting raw data into an image but there are other technical details of course.
A more detailed explanation:
Though visualization is the general concept and rendering can be a part of it.
More specifically, there is data visualization:
I can also say that the verb visualize is not uncommon in technical contexts for the sense that you mention.