Super Sundry, Vol. 3
Super Sundry, Vol. 3
Joyful colors, cartography, and charts du jour.
Welcome to Chartography: insights and delights from the world of data storytelling.
⌨️ I appreciate your warm reception of my first typewriter map. Several collectors have inquired about commissioning maps for themselves. Please reach out if you want to discuss making something special together.
This week, we are keeping it fun with another parade of summer sundries. Let’s go!
Charts
🗣️ Dozens of data visualization talks from the Outlier conference are now live.
I was most excited to watch John Burn-Murdoch’s Making charts that make an impact, where he detailed a variety of little flourishes that elevate simple charts to engaging pieces of communication. (A narrative title and a little annotation goes a long way!)
My favorite of his examples began with this multiple view of British economic metrics against a background of peer countries . . .
. . . and shows you how much more interesting the chart becomes once colored by ruling party:
Watch Burn-Murdoch’s whole talk on YouTube
🥵 Richie Lionell charts a humorous variant of warming stripes.
With the recent news about the loss of Lahaina, it seems that the eyes should also be crying.
Illustration
☄️ Nick Sousanis recently shared that the Bayeux Tapestry contains the first known depiction of Haley’s Comet. Eagle-eye watchers will spot it in the preview Sousanis shared of his highly anticipated next book, Nostos, the follow-up to Unflattening (which is the book I have gifted more than any other). Spin Weave and Cut
🌎 Anton Thomas has completed Wild World, his color-pencil masterpiece of Earth’s geography and fauna.
Land coverage, bathymetry, thousands of animals, all in delightful detail:
I’m looking forward to ordering a print, which are promised to go on preorder sale soon. Details
Old Maps
🇭🇺 The wild design of the Ethnographic Map of Hungary Based on Density of Population (1922) caught my attention once again. There is something riveting about how these colors interact with the mix of organic and geometric shapes.
There is a wealth of knowledge about this famous map published online by Dániel Zoltán Segyevy:
Perhaps the most renowned ethnic map, the "Carte Rouge" was one of the most referenced Hungarian cartographic documents of the Paris Peace Conference. First published 100 years ago, this map came to fruition on the 21st of February in 1919. Hungary, as part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy lost the First World War in the latter part of 1918. From October of 1918 onwards, Hungarian representatives from various scientific disciplines expeditiously tried to organize the scientific background of the Hungarian territorial argumentations for the peace-negotiations.
Revisit the Carte Rouge and other Hungarian designs with my interview of Attila Bátorfy and see the whole map in detail at the David Rumsey Map Collection.
✉️ The Swiss Postal Administration’s overview of internal postal connections (1902) is absolutely bonkers. Is this the upper limit of how much data that can be embedded in a map?
Don’t miss the legend for the signs when you see the whole map at the David Rumsey Map Collection.
Joy
🍂 The Rising Sun redbud tree (Cercis canadensis) has leaves that change color in a most pleasing order.
📚 Update on my essay on modern work: I spent the past two days IKEA’ing to stack all my design books into my tiny office (eight-foot tall stacks!), making sure to preserve my analog space. I am excited to do more, better, with so much inspiration and resources at arm’s length. Come nerd out with me in San Francisco, or see it as my new biblio-Zoom background.
I will be back next edition with a review of the beautiful book by Benjamin Benus about Herbert Bayer’s iconic World Geo-Graphic Atlas (RIT Press). Until then.
Onward!—RJ
About
Data storyteller RJ Andrews helps organizations solve high-stakes problems by using visual metaphors and information graphics: charts, diagrams, and maps. His passion is studying the history of information graphics to discover design insights. See more at infoWeTrust.com.
RJ’s recently published series, Information Graphic Visionaries, a new book series celebrating three spectacular data visualization creators. With new writing, complete visual catalogs, and discoveries never seen by the public. His first book is Info We Trust, How to Inspire the World with Data., is currently being remastered for a new edition.