La puissance d’information…

Graphical and and narrative maps can be particularly powerful, making information that would otherwise not be retained by those other than professionals in the field of its subject matter not only retainable but interesting for a general audience. Graphic elements help give a collection of data hierarchy, emphasizing a main idea, message, or conclusion drawn from a body of research. Visual elements not only bring focus and aesthetics to a piece but link information to areas of the viewer’s life. For example, a map such as those shown in this chapter with concentrations of certain illnesses might be a tool of preventative health care, instigating lifestyle changes in those at risk or perhaps proving the need for funding of tools to stop the problem altogether. Despite all of the tools written language provides to add descriptive elements to text, data presents a unique problem in that it is by nature dry and because of the need to absord and understand it’s meaning quickly. Without resorting to a literal illustration that is unable to give accurate quantitative information, visual charts must connect with their viewer the same way a picture might, giving new life and humanity to dormant text. Telling us that the number of soldiers in the Russian campaign dwildled from 422,000 to 10,000 is not nearly as powerful as showing us how it happened in one single graphic.