Graphics 2 history of information graphics

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Graphics 2history of information graphics
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introduction

• recap Kapitzkis classification of signs
• early information graphics
• maps from ancient civilisations
• Playfairs graphical representations
• Minards diagram of Napoleon's Russian Campaign
• Neurath and the ISOTYPE
• other developments that laid the foundations of
  modern information graphics

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Kapitzkis classification of signs

• ideogram a symbol that relates to the
  represented object or concept
• logogram conceptual representation without any
  phonetic dimension
• typogram typographical representation made with
  language
• phonogram phonic representation

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Kapitzkis classification of signs

• iconogram emphasises the features of the
  signifier that are common to the signified
• pictogram uses visual carriers of meaning to
  convey information
• cartogram topographical representation
• diagram functional representation
• Herbert W. Kapitzki, http//www.kapitzki.de/en/c
  ontent/

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earliest information graphics - maps

• Lascaux caves earliest maps found show the night
  sky 16,000 BC
• Çatalhöyük drawing may be a plan of the village
  7,000 BC
• Hecataeus of Miletus earliest surviving map of
  the world 450 BC
• Claudius Ptolemy represented spherical shape of
  the earth with perspective map in his Geographia
  100 AD

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William Playfair

• Scottish engineer and economist
• regarded as the founder of graphical statistics
• credited with inventing the line graph and bar
  chart in his Commercial and Political Atlas
  published 1786
• also credited with the pie chart, appearing in
  his work Statistical Breviary published 1881

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Charles Joseph Minard

• French civil engineer, pioneered the use of
  graphs
• represented statistical information using
  diagrams
• used graphical techniques to explain engineering
  principles
• 1869 published statistical representation of
  Napoleans Russian Campaign 1812
• shows the position and direction of forces
• shows where forces split and where they joined
• shows declining numbers and where major losses
  occurred
• shows the temperatures at key points
• developed what has come to be known as a flow
  map
• described by Edward Tufte as the best
  statistical graphic ever drawn (Tufte, 1983)

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Minards diagram of Napoleans Russian Campaign,
published 1869
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Otto Neurath

• Austrian philosopher, sociologist and economist
• prominent member of the Vienna Circle and
  follower of Logical Positivism
• developed, with Gerd Arntz, a system known as
  Isotype, 1936
• International System Of TYpographic Picture
  Education

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examples of pictograms from ISOTYPE
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Otto Neurath

• Neurath campaigned for the adoption of an
  international system of communication
• cofounded with Charles Morris and Rudolph Carnap
  the International Encyclopaedia of Unified
  Science
• worked with Augustin Tschinkel and Erwin Bernath,
  suggested three phases to understanding a
  pictogram
• the first glance the most important qualities
  are perceived
• the second glance the less important qualities
  are perceived
• the third glance additional details are
  perceived
• hence the first attempts to understand
  systematically the way in which information is
  apprehended...
• Gerd Arntz archive - http//www.gerdarntz.org/home
  

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The Olympic Games

• 1936 Berlin games televised, relayed to
  countries with different languages
• 1964 Tokyo not only different language, but a
  completely different alphabet
• 1972 Munich Otl Aichers highly abstracted,
  simplified forms and perfectionist implementation
  credited with founding our modern pictograms

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other important developments

• road signs
• Italian Touring Club 1895
• International Road Congress, Rome 1908
• UK Road Traffic Act 1930
• Anderson Committee 1957,
• airport signs
• Association of German Airports 1968 Herbert
  Kapitzki
• industry
• Esso 1975 Institute for Environmental Design
• space!
• the Pioneer plaque is designed to communicate
  without language to aliens

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Pioneer 10 and 11 plaques

• top left provides a representation of hydrogen
  atoms
• most abundant element in the universe
• used to derive a measurement of length (21cm) and
  time
• highly iconic representation of human male and
  female
• binary equivalent of decimal 8 (1000) provides
  height of figure
• (8 x 21 168cm)
• the relative position to the sun of 14 pulsars is
  shown
• dotted lines provide pulse frequencies in units
  derived from hydrogen atom behaviour
• a map of the solar system is included, and shows
  the trajectory of the probe
• an outline of the probe is shown to scale behind
  the figures

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sources

• Tufte, Edward R (1983) The visual display of
  quantitative information, Graphics Press.
• Gerd Arntz Web Archive, online Available
  from http//gerdarntz.org/isotype (Accessed 10
  March 2009).
• The Work of Edward Tufte and Graphics Press,
  online Available from http//www.edwardtufte.co
  m/tufte/ (Accessed 10 March 2009).