Captain’s Log:

In Edward R. Tufte’s “Graphical Excellence”, he writes about how graphical presentations such as maps or charts can convey more information and statistics than a simple report. He presents several examples with most of them being examples of maps.

The one example that really caught my interest would be the map of the U.S. that showed data for people in different parts of the country affected with certain types of cancer. The map clearly shows sections of the U.S. that are most affected and the least affected or unaffected. However, the map shows each county in the U.S., a little unnecessary since the map seems really cluttered to be honest. If they sticked to just showing the states affected, I think the same data would’ve been conveyed. A missing piece of information I noticed also would be that the chart only shows white people that are affected which seems to imply that the U.S. consists only of white people(kinda racist…..jkjk). That aside, it’s a good map and representation of cancer victims afflicted in the U.S.

As for designs that make me pay more attention to the aesthetics rather than the information, I’m sure there has been some that I’ve seen however I can’t remember any; maybe the MTA bus schedule.