AndreaLR01

Reading this article on “Graphical Excellence” was a very new experience for me. I have essentially no background or prior knowledge on the science and art of graph making and honestly, I've never giving the whole process much thought. Learning about the history and advancement of graphs seemed strange to me. In the media culture I've been surrounded by my whole life info-graphics were constant and run-of-the-mill. In newspapers articles are more often than not paired with easy to understand charts and graphs for the reader to reference and make the information easier to grasp. I admit to sometimes only looking at that part of the article because it's quick, and much easier than committing to diving into the entire article. Text books I've had growing up in school always had info-graphics to help explain information, usually at the end of a chapter to quickly and easily sum up the overall concept. Also on the TV news there are always info-graphics aiding explanations. My generation is fast paced and honestly, myself included, has a very low attention span. I've always been surround by quick summaries of information allowing me to move on to the next moment quickly.

Approaching graphs in such a historical way was strange. I've never though about a time where charts and map mapping were new and growing processes. All of these things just seem like assumed processes that come sort of second nature, in a way, because the methods used are so well known. Even the advanced graphs in the reading seemed old, and confusing. It was interesting to see graphs in contrast to just the straight data, as well as newer easier to read graphs to old bar graphs. But, honestly I found the information distant still, perhaps because my knowledge in science is limited.

Maybe it is my lack of background in the whole field but, I felt really strange and detached and confused reading about graphs, their history and the critique of their function. I never thought of graphs and maps as something that is still under critique in the design world. It is not that I don't think this process and information is un-important, I just realized it is something that is often over-looked by the average person. I think the best graphs share information with the viewer without the viewer thinking twice about how the info is reaching them. Completely eliminating any “noise”, to use a new vocabulary word I learned in last class.

I did learn some things about graphs that I haven't thought about before. Graphics reveal data quick and clearly. They organize information allowing viewers to come to conclusions. They can show patterns that text alone could not express. Although, a graph is only as good as the data available. Graphs function the best when there is an very large amount of data to be worked with. Graphs are helpful because they can express a large amount of information in a very small space. Maps can function like graphs, showing patterns and rhythms with applied data.