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![\"Explore](\"https:\/\/www.bitmetric.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/william-c-brinton-1024x686.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nA hundred years ago, the landscape of data visualization was vastly different from the digital dashboards and interactive charts we are accustomed to today. We want to share with you two books that we recently stumbled upon: \u201cGraphic Methods fo<\/a>r Presenting Facts<\/a>\u201c, published in 1914, and its successor \u201cGraphic Presentation<\/a>\u201c, published in 1939. Both books are written by engineer Willard C. Brinton<\/a> and present a fascinating time capsule of the state of the art of data visualization at the time. They remind us that the principles governing the effective presentation of information have deep historical roots, even as the tools and technologies we use have undergone dramatic transformations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We encourage you to explore both books for yourself. Below we\u2019ll share a few excerpts that we found interesting and\/or amusing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The data doesn\u2019t speak for itself, presentation and story telling matter!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Willard C. Brinton, Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts (1914), pp. 1-2<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGraphic comparison, wherever possible, should be made in one dimension only. In such a case as this, one-dimension presentation is perfectly feasibile by the user of bars of different lenghts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Willard C. Brinton, Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts (1914), p. 22<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn general, graphics work of this kind is much worse than the use of figures alone. There are times when an absence of knowledge is better than incorrect knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Willard C. Brinton, Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts (1914), p. 27<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n And they were extremely effective. The visualization below aided in getting millions of Dollars raised for the improvement of public schools in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Willard C. Brinton, Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts (1914), p. 32<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Both books feature numerous<\/a> examples<\/a> of misleading<\/a> charts<\/a>, some of them intentional<\/a>. Of course, the well-known \u201cdon\u2019t start the axis at zero to make the numbers look more spectacular\u201d trick is also included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Willard C. Brinton, Graphic Presentation (1939), p. 22<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though Brinton is aware that bar charts are a valid, often better, alternative to pie charts, he treats them as more or less interchangeable in his 1939 book:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn practically every instance in which material is presented in a sector chart, the same information might also be presented in bar charts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This isn\u2019t surprising, as the book itself is dedicated to William Playfair<\/a>, the inventor of the pie chart (as well as lots of other visualizations). The preface of the book describes how Brinton became aware of Playfair after publication of his first book. Brinton\u2019s done extensive research on the man and his works, and he\u2019s a fan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith all that Playfair did to show the effectiveness of graphic chart methods from his first book, published in 1786 at the age of twenty-seven, till his death in 1823, why have not graphic charts become more thoroughly established as a universal language?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Willard C. Brinton, Graphic Presentation (1939), p. 12<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Willard C. Brinton, Graphic Presentation (1939), p. 81<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n If fidgetting with settings in your data visualization software of choice seems like a hassle, how about manually creating a sankey chart from one thousand strips of paper?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Willard C. Brinton, Graphic Presentation (1939), p. 78<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Or how about creating a 3D visualization with a figure saw and hundreds of pieces of plywood?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Willard C. Brinton, Graphic Presentation (1939), p. 354<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n From picking the right paper<\/a>, pencils<\/a>, crayons<\/a>, erasers<\/a> and ink<\/a> to cut-out letters<\/a>, cameras<\/a>, lantern slides<\/a> and various printing techniques<\/a>, getting your visualizations out there sure was a lot of work!<\/p>\n\n\n\n After going through these books and learning more about what it was like \u201cback in the day\u201d, we at Bitmetric feel fortunate that we get to use modern solutions like Qlik Sense<\/a> every day \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to explore both books for yourself, they are available in their entirety at the Internet Archive:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A hundred years ago, the landscape of data visualization was vastly different from the digital dashboards and interactive charts we are accustomed to today. We want to share with you… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-data-vizualisation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbekk.com\/devstream\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbekk.com\/devstream\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbekk.com\/devstream\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbekk.com\/devstream\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbekk.com\/devstream\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tbekk.com\/devstream\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":917,"href":"https:\/\/tbekk.com\/devstream\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions\/917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbekk.com\/devstream\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbekk.com\/devstream\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbekk.com\/devstream\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Some things never change<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bitmetric.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/willard-c-brinton-graphic-methods-for-presenting-facts-chapter-1.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nEven in 1914, a simple bar chart was often best<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bitmetric.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/willard-c-brinton-graphic-methods-for-presenting-facts-p22-two-dimensional-chart.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bitmetric.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/willard-c-brinton-graphic-methods-for-presenting-facts-p22-bar-chart-1.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n3D presentation barely existed, and it was already a bad idea<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bitmetric.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/willard-c-brinton-graphic-methods-for-presenting-facts-p27-3d.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHeatmaps were already around<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bitmetric.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/willard-c-brinton-graphic-methods-for-presenting-facts-p32-heatmap-718x1024.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAnd so were misleading charts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bitmetric.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/willard-c-brinton-graphic-presentation-p22-misleading-chart.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn 1939, pies were not just for dessert<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bitmetric.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/willard-c-brinton-graphic-presentation-p81-pie-chart-750x1024.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nEven if the concepts have remained relatively unchanged, the technology hasn\u2019t<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bitmetric.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/willard-c-brinton-graphic-presentation-p78-sankey-chart.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWant a 3D chart? Get out the plywood!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bitmetric.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/willard-c-brinton-graphic-presentation-p354-3d-chart.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOverall, creating data visualizations used to be a lot more work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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