Zoologist

THE SCIENTIFIC ART OF ERNST HAECKEL.

“Kunstformen del Natur” (Art Forms of Nature) is Haeckel’s masterwork. Published in 1904, it contains 100 illustrations of animals and sea-life in two volumes. The illustrations were originally published in ten sets over the previous six years.
Here are some examples of the plates. Above, bivalve shells. Below, sea squirts.

Moths.

Lizards.

Sea snail shells.

Ringed worms.

Slime molds.

Hummingbirds.

Tree of Life
Haeckel was strongly influenced by Charles Darwin’s seminal book: “On the Origin of the Species.”
This diagram is from “Anthropogenie oder Entwickelungsgeschichte des Menschen” (Anthropogeny or the Evolution of Man), 1874.

My previous post featured Taschen’s “History of Information Graphics”:
https://wp.me/p7LiLW-33l
There’s a page in the book about Haeckel’s “Radiolaria.” (Protozoa with a diameter of 0.1 to 0.2 mm. They have mineral skeletons.)
Below is one of the plates.

August 28, 2019

History lessons

TWELVE CENTURIES OF INFOGRAPHICS.

This impressive guide to historical graphics, curated by Sandra Rendgen and edited by Julius Wiedemann, was published last month. It’s big and heavy, in the Taschen tradition, and packed with around four hundred examples that track the development of information graphics from the Early Middle Ages to the end of the twentieth century. The historical progression is punctuated by separate sections that feature the collections of David Rumsey, Michael Friendly, Michael Stoll and Scott Klein. This is essential reading for people in our field.
Here are some sample spreads. Click on the images for larger versions.

Below, Beatus of Liébana, ca.1180.

Hartmann Schedel and Michael Wolgemut, 1493.

Charles-Joseph Minard, 1869. (From Michael Friendly’s collection.)

Emma Willard, 1846.

Left, Carl Weigand, ca. 1963. Right, Hermann Bollmann, 1964.

Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda, 1972.

Taschen’s website: https://bit.ly/2Z7pdiD

Transparency
I have a graphic in the twentieth-century section, but I’ve tried my best to be objective about the book. If you get a copy, you’ll see what I mean about there being a lot to learn from these pages.

35,000 years ago
The first post on this blog (in August 2016) was a very short history of infographics: https://wp.me/p7LiLW-9C

June 20, 2019

Pictograms revisited

COMMUNICATING WITH SYMBOLS.

This is the final post of my recycling series. Last, but not least. The power of pictograms shouldn’t be under-estimated. They’re an important part of the infographic toolkit.

Symbol world https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1Dt

Hazardous https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1Hs

Icon invasion https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1so

Everyday symbols https://wp.me/p7LiLW-Aa

Picture language https://wp.me/p7LiLW-LX

Emergency symbols https://wp.me/p7LiLW-17w

The Accessible Icon Project https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1QI

Symbol art https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1U3

Pictograms on poles https://wp.me/p7LiLW-5d

Archaeological pictograms https://wp.me/p7LiLW-V0

Last week’s post: Design revisited
https://wp.me/p7LiLW-30F

June 13, 2019

Design revisited

LOOKING AT THE BIGGER PICTURE.

Of course, good design is vital if our infographics are going work effectively (and attract attention).
Here’s some posts that look at general design themes.

Organized https://wp.me/p7LiLW-Z4

Pantone https://wp.me/p7LiLW-qq

Low-res https://wp.me/p7LiLW-Z1

Less but better https://wp.me/p7LiLW-13C

Paper graphics https://wp.me/p7LiLW-17m

The Hollywood effect https://wp.me/p7LiLW-5a

Simplicity https://wp.me/p7LiLW-17S

Radio displays https://wp.me/p7LiLW-17t

Outside the box https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1pF

Pictorial typefaces https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1yQ

Last week’s post: Tools
https://wp.me/p7LiLW-30D

Next week’s post: Pictograms

June 6, 2019

Tools revisited

ANALOG INFOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT.

Once upon a time, every graphic designer needed to make regular visits to the art store. It was all about ink, paint, overlay film etc. Then along came the computer and everything changed. However, the underlying information design skills haven’t changed at all.

Tools of the trade https://wp.me/p7LiLW-EI

Beautiful pencils https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2GQ

Pencraft https://wp.me/s7LiLW-pencraft

The $2,850 crayon set https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1Wc

The $1,263 paintbrush https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1M5

Dot pattern https://wp.me/p7LiLW-Kv

The ultimate pencil https://wp.me/p7LiLW-4a

Mechanical https://wp.me/p7LiLW-Mw

CMYK https://wp.me/s7LiLW-cmyk

Infographics made easy https://wp.me/p7LiLW-Ic

Last week’s post: History revisited
https://wp.me/p7LiLW-302

Next week’s post: Design

May 29, 2019

History revisited

GOING BACK IN TIME.

There’s a lot to learn from our rich information design heritage. Below, links to ten historically-themed posts.

Bayer’s masterpiece https://wp.me/p7LiLW-xO

Mid-century data viz https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2AI

Humanscale https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1y5

Flight thru Instruments https://wp.me/p7LiLW-Rr

Flap books https://wp.me/p7LiLW-IV

Leonardo who? https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1WJ

Microscopic https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1W5

Wall charts https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1Sj

Swiss data viz https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2iq

Space Age https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2RW

Last week’s post: Maps revisited
https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2Ze

Next week’s post: Tools

May 23, 2019

Eight by Eight Issue 15: Women’s World Cup

THE MAGAZINE FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE FOOTBALL (SOCCER), AND EXCELLENT DESIGN.

The latest issue features the FIFA Women’s World Cup which starts on June 7 in Paris. The United States team is aiming to defend its world title, and win the tournament for the fourth time. They can do it, but there will be some tough games ahead. Below are some of the spreads from Issue 15. Order it here: https://shop.8by8mag.com/collections/current-issue

May 21, 2019

Maps revisited

A SAMPLE OF PREVIOUS GEOGRAPHIC POSTS.

Another set of examples from the multiple Nobel Prize-winning Grimwade archive. This time it’s all about location.

The incredible Bollmann map workshop https://wp.me/p7LiLW-Ak

Moving borders https://wp.me/p7LiLW-UY

Data mapping https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2J1

Mega-globes https://wp.me/p7LiLW-3D

North https://wp.me/s7LiLW-north

Mercator projection https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1Qn

Stick maps https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2bd

Equator https://wp.me/s7LiLW-equator

Globemaker https://wp.me/p7LiLW-qD

Earthlight https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1Y0

Last week’s post: Data viz revisited
https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2Yy

Next week: Historical graphics

May 14, 2019

Data viz revisited

FROM PIE CHARTS TO FAKE CHARTS.

Following on from last week’s roundup of past infographic posts, here’s ten from the data visualization category.

Pie chart anxiety https://wp.me/p7LiLW-zt

DNA https://wp.me/s7LiLW-dna

Colors of cars https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2b1

Venn diagram https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1F9

A question of scale https://wp.me/p7LiLW-Fc

Circular data https://wp.me/p7LiLW-24O

Invisible Netherlands https://wp.me/p7LiLW-Ru

Personal data viz https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2Ip

The dataviz album cover https://wp.me/p7LiLW-Yb

Fake data viz https://wp.me/p7LiLW-11q

Last week’s post: Infographics revisited
https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2Y6

Next week: Maps

May 7, 2019

Infographics revisited

EXAMPLES FROM THE ARCHIVE.

After 230 posts, I decided to take a break from this blog. Now the two-month recovery period has come to an end. Teams of therapists have done their work, and all is calm in Athens, Ohio.

I’ll start posting new material soon, but as prelude to that, here’s ten infographic posts from the extensive collection that’s on view at the world-famous Grimwade Museum of Informational Graphics. They’re in no particular order, and are not necessarily the most popular posts (or my personal favorites). But hopefully it’s a reasonable sample. Next week, I’ll give a second run-out to some data visualization posts.

Instructional https://wp.me/p7LiLW-SD