Designing Data- Image Atlas (Taryn Simon)

The book Data and Design was an extremely interesting read. I enjoyed its clear and cohesive approach at drawing out the relationship between good design and presenting information. I love the fact that Coale not only encourages us to “present information” but to design an “information experience”. I think this is important in understanding the fact that data cannot be completely objective as the very act of organizing and visualizing it is in turn emphasizing certain elements and bringing attention to select elements of the research through design. He goes on to describe in his chapter “Importance of Font, Color and Icons”, principles of design such as minimalist approaches, utilization of color theory etc. that lead to more effective absorption of visualized data. An example shown in the book that inspired me was Florence Nightingale’s “Diagram of the Causes of Mortality”. The beautiful and cohesive design of the Coxcomb diagram is an iconic method of displaying data that is still used in a contemporary environment. It goes to show that good design is something that is universally recognized; a language that although not everyone speaks, any pair of eyes will understand. Another interesting point that I think he made was his reference to the fact that humans have been using methods of visualizing data with icons and pictograms as far back as the Neolithic ages. This is interesting to me as it shows that man has always had the ability to visually communicate information and the inclination to express themselves with something more than words.

Taryn Simon is an American artist that is fascinated by categorization and classification. Her work often involves extensive research to gather data which she then formalizes in the medium of photogrpahy, text or graphic design. Her project Image Atlas was something I immediately thought of upon looking into visualizing data. Her website http://www.imageatlas.org/ “interrogates the possibility of a universal visual language and questions the supposed innocence and neutrality of the algorithms upon which search engines rely.”- as described on her portfolio. The structure of her image atlas is interesting as it compiles the top results of an image search using the same keyword from different countries that use local search engines. E.g. If I wanted to compare the the images a user in China and a user in Korea would see after typing food, Image Atlas would compile the top results of their local search engines (Baidu and Naver, respectively). Although this is not an entirely scientific method of acquiring insight on the topic of search, it is an interesting way of communicating differences in terms of exposure to data and cultural iconography within each country. My favorite part of this website is the fact that North Korea is listed, but has zero results listed no matter what the search is.