Exemplars & Luminaries Pt3

Edward Tufte(1942-): He has made a trilogy of books explaining the ideas of how to show graphics to explain information. After looking at some of his work it can be seen that he leans more informative than design based for his data visualization. Based in his third book, "Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative", he explains that for a good visual information your work needs to be organized and detailed. Without proper gathering of information it defeats the purpose of the entire graphic. With a clear organization, the information is easier for the viewers to read and understand very clearly. Some of his own work includes Napoleon's March, Seeing Around, and many more. They deal with more information than the actual graphic, making his work more reliant on the information on hand. With this he has to make sure the information he gathers is very accurate but also not too overwhelming.

Fritz Kahn(1888-1968): Being a science writer, Kahn was very interested in the human body. So much so most of his work was dedicated to showing human anatomy, however, showing it in more of an abstract manner in comparison to Tufte. His book, "The Life of Man", used many visual analogies to explain different parts of the body. Using this he not only displayed the function, but also used a very visual based way. I like this compared to Tufte because he used something people knew, the human body, and created a visually interesting way of explaining the functions without properly showing it. I would rather display information more of an abstract way then informative and making an image to complement.

Matt Owens: Most of his work consists of typographic works and very graphic imagery. One work however, that stood out from the rest was an infographic that talks about the human body. It is being compared to a car and how food and fuel is burned in the body for energy. The difference between this one and the rest is the modern look to it. Though he is very graphic based like Kahn, he does not take a abstract way to it. Instead he uses the graphic to give the visual of the information that is present. I like the simplicity of the graphics and how they are not overshadowed by the information. They are interesting and something I would want to do.

Nicholas Fenton: As an well rounded artist, Fenton has an array of different designs ranging from typography to app designer. He also worked with making the timeline feature that is used by millions on Facebook. However, he also shows his expertise on infographics by showing his own personal 2014 annual report on his website. He shows this by using very simplistic shapes and simple color palettes that when used together create a simple yet informative design. I like how there is not much going on and nothing is overshadowing another piece of the design. I feel when making an infographic its nice to have the graphics and the data work side by side and not having an overwhelming sense of hierarchy.

Paula Scher(1948-): After looking at many of Scher's pieces it can be seen that she has a heavy reliance on typography to make her art stand out. Though not initially thought of as infographics, her use of typography in pieces such as the "India" piece can still have a strong sense of typography. In this piece many different words are used to create the country of India and the surrounding area. By using informative words such as the geographical location of seas, cities, and the country itself, this can be used as a informational graphic. This is because it is still displaying information while still giving you a very nice graphic piece.

James Rosenquist- As a leading artist in the pop art movement, Rosenquist

- Howard Margolis, author. "Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative Edward Tufte." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, no. 3, 1998, p. 549. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.montclair.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.3325564&site=eds-live&scope=site.

- “FRITZ KAHN » About.” FRITZ KAHN, Tom Rieke, www.fritz-kahn.com/about/.

- http://volumeone.com/good_fuel.php

- http://feltron.com/FAR14.html

- http://www.historygraphicdesign.com/the-age-of-information/postmodern-design/207-paula-scher