Visual Variables
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A.D. Reader Pt. 2, 98–103
Jacques Bertin was a French cartographer and theorist, known from his book Sémiologie Graphique (Semiology of Graphics), published in 1967. This monumental work, based on his experience as a cartographer and geographer, represents the first and widest intent to provide a theoretical foundation to Information Visualization. PDF of Semiology of Graphics
GRAPHICS AS BOTH COMMUNICATION & RESEARCH:
Simplification Is an Obligation of the Communication Process
Whether communication involves a verbal statement or a graphic representation, it starts from complex information and aims at making it understood, that is, at discovering combinational elements which are less numerous than the initial elements yet capable of describing all the information in a simpler form. When it is logical, the simplification is creative. By revealing concepts of a higher order, enables us to know more than our predecessors, and more still with each generation.
"And now, at the end of the twentieth century, with the pressure of modern information and the advances of data processing, graphics is passing through a new and fundamental stage. The great difference between the graphic representation of yesterday, which was poorly dissociated from the figurative image, and the graphics of tomorrow, is the disappearance of the congenital fixity of the image.
"When one can superimpose, juxtapose, transpose, and permute graphic images in ways that lead to groupings and classings, the graphic image passes from the dead image, the "illustration," to the living image, the widely accessible research instrument it is now becoming. The graphic is no longer only the "representation" of a final simplification, it is a point of departure for the discovery of these simplifications and the means for their justification. The graphic has become. by its manageability, an instrument for information processing. Its study must begin, then, with the analysis of the information to be transcribed."
In order to be visible a mark must have a power reflect light which is different from that of the paper. The larger the mark, the less pronounced the difference need be. A black mark of minimum visibility and discriminability must have diameter of 2/10 mm. But this is not absolute, since constellation of smaller marks is perfectly visible.
THE VISUAL VARIABLES
A mark can thus express a correspondence between the two series constituted by the TWO PLANAR DIMENSIONS
Fixed at a given point on the plane, the mark, provided it has a certain dimension, can be drawn in different modes. It can vary in SIZE VALUE TEXTURE COLOR ORIENTATION SHAPE and can also express correspondence between its planar position and its position in the series constituting each variable.
The designer thus has eight variables to work with. They are the components of the graphic system and will be called the "visual variables." They form the world of images. With them the designer suggests perspective, the painter reality, the graphic draftsman ordered relationships, and the cartographer space.
This analysis of atemporal visual perception in eight factors does not exclude other approaches. But, combined with the notion of "implantation," it has the advantage of being more systematic, while remaining applicable to the practical problems encountered in graphic construction.
These variables have different properties and different capacities for portraying given types of information. As with all components, each variable is characterized by its level of organization and its length. We will first study the properties of the PLANE, then those of the RETINAL VARIABLES which can be "elevated" above the plane."
THREE FUNCTIONS OF GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION
(1) RECORDING INFORMATION: creating a storage mechanism which avoids the effort of memorization. The graphic utilized for this purpose must be comprehensive and may be nonmemorizable in its totality.
(2) COMMUNICATING INFORMATION: creating a memorizable image which will inscribe the information in the viewer's mind. The graphic used here must be memorizable and may be noncomprehensive. The image should be a simple one.
(3) PROCESSING INFORMATION: furnishing the drawings which permit a SIMPLIFICATION and its justification. The graphic should be memorizable (for comparisons) and comprehensive (for choices).
Information with three components or less, constructed as a single image, can fulfill all three functions of graphic representation.
Design by Jurriaan Schrofer:
Bertin's Projection:
Claude Levi-Strauss shout:
