visualizing information

Whether you are a planner, a creative or anyone who needs to tell stories for living, the ability to convey information clearly and quickly is a critical skill to master. And if on top of it you manage to convey an emotion, you're golden.

My boss Don had this old but amazing poster in his office:

It was Minard's "Carte figurative des pertes successives en hommes de l'Armée Française dans la campagne de Russie 1812-1813". A Brilliant flowchart representing the progress of Napoleon's disastrous Russian campaign.

The amazing thing about that poster was how clearly it conveyed certain variables (the route, dates, temperatures and number of troops), and how quickly that information translated into a (terribly disturbing) feeling to anyone reading it: 97% of the 422,000 soldiers that started the campaign never made it back alive...

Below is a much jollier and modern example, but still a super cool way to display information, and hear Beethoven like never before. Enjoy:

To understand what each color represents, click here