infographic readings

as always, graphic design/the new basics is super great for getting across the basics of a concept. it describes infographics on the most basic level of plotting points of connection to build networks of information. edward tufte (renowned information-visualization superman) happens to advocate the dispersal of information without the pretty meddling fingers of designers and propaganda artists, instead wishing people could access just pure information without any kind of confusion or hierarchical bias.

(sorry, mr. tufte: objectivity, as i'm sure you know, is, scientifically speaking, extremely hard to come by, and that ideal is not only hard to achieve, but maybe not desirable in some circumstances after all. no matter how neutrally you intend to present something, by the virtue of you deciding to present it, you have an opinion and it'll make its way out in some fashion, no matter how subtly you try to conceal it. /tangent)

information graphics facilitate the visualization of relationships that can't just be pulled out of a text or gleaned from lists of numbers. we simply cannot hold so many things in our minds' eyes all at once! just as soon as we start to understand one amount, we try to start thinking about another, and then we lose both. infographics function as an extension of our brains, a place to hold thoughts still so that we can better analyze them without trying to remember everything simultaneously. whether they do this simply and transparently, as tufte would wish, or through complex, influential graphic systems that can direct the reader to the conclusion you want them to reach, is a matter of the designer.

i also found myself interested in the "diagramming editorial content" area because i had inadvertently already begun that with one of dj biography 'infographic' from the early set. maybe i'll be able to incorporate that working style into this project as it progresses.

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nicholas felton probably knows more about himself than any of us combined. having charted his life for years, he has visualizations for personal data i'd never even considered collecting. in his work, we are returning (waaay back) to the idea of design archeology. he's not writing a memoir. he's not telling his lifestory or composing a narrative or any other way to phrase that. he's simply arranging the data of his existence in such a way that, from that information, we can reconstruct what sort of person he must be. the best stories are the most realistic ones: everybody prizes an author who can capture the random mundanity of daily living, the highs and lows and grilled cheese sandwiches and stoplights. nicholas felton has taken this to an entirely different level. he's telling the truest story ever, with no judgement, and no narrator. simply the facts, from which we can draw what we will.

there's no need to explain things if you represent them clearly enough. put together enough pixels and you can zoom out to an image. you don't have to be told what it is. lots of data can come together to create an incredible snapshot of a person, or a culture, or a product or society or industry or anything.