Sam K R01

This chapter, Graphical Excellence, starts off by stating definitive rules for the creation of infographics. As with any collection of definitive statements, I furrowed my brow and looked for holes in their argument. Truth be told, I’ve never thought this deeply about the creation of infographics, so I’ve pulled up the most recent on by GOOD magazine. “Where in the world do exiled leaders flee?” http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/1105/exiled-leaders/flat.html

Now I’ll compare the graphic with these set standards. First off, this does show the data, and it induces me to think about the content. It doesn’t seem to distort the data—they show the whole world map except for the north and south poles, and they even include where stops were made, to give more accuracy. It does present many numbers in a small space and large data set coherent—although, I wouldn’t call all of this information numbers. It’s far more than that—human lives, the art of fleeing, corrupt and overthrown politicians… So much more than numbers. The comparison it encourages is where the blue and orange dots are most gathered—namely, France and Saudi Arabia. There is a note which helpfully tries to explain this trend. It indeed gives much detail—with the full world map featured along with names of politicians, when they were exhiled, where they went, and for some, a bio. The explanation and the integration between verbal and visual data flow well and create an easy to understand infographic.

Excellent job, GOOD magazine!

As for the rest of the chapter, it comes as no surprise that the first true infographics were maps. The human race is obsessed with possession of land, as well as shining light on the mysteries of the world. A map helps with both. Eventually, people started to use maps to mark trends in death, weather patterns, and large groups of moving people.

The use of latitude and longitude leant itself well to creating new types of graphics—Time-Series. They are used to represent changes over time, with the x axis more often than not representing time increments.

It is at this point in time that the chapter marks the emergence of Lambert and Playfair, two leading infographic designers. Playfair argued for the use of graphics over tables, as the graphics can be understood in relation to one-another at a glance. With tables, one must read and compare every listed number. He himself compressed three tables of information into one chart, to make a comparison between time period/ruling family, labor cost and wheat cost. When placed together over then same time period, we are able to compare and realize that it is correct to say that they were paying less than ever for wheat.

Of particular, personal interest are the time-series illustrations, which show the movement of a lizard or a starfish. Although they are much like tables in that they must be carefully compared, the images make it an easier task.

The narrative graphics of space and time (which is how I would refer to the GOOD Magazine infographic) are the most complex, it seems. They can’t help but become a narrative. Through this, they are able to give more information than just a set of numbers ever could.

Without well-made infographics, communication would be extremely difficult.