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Technical is derived from the Greek word tekhnikos, meaning art. In common usage, it is an adjective relating to a specialisation or a developed use of a technique, or any precise method, or knowledge of that method of operating technology, as opposed to more abstract knowledge of scientific concepts.

It may also refer to:

• Vocational education - often known as technical education.
• Technical (fighting vehicle) - an armored fighting vehicle.

This article is based on the article "Technical" from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License. Here you find the list of authors of this article. The article can only edited within Wikipedia. Edit this article in Wikipedia.

Information graphics or infographics are visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics are used anywhere where information needs to be explained quickly or simply, such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical manuals, and education. They are also used extensively as tools by computer scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians to ease the process of developing and communicating conceptual information.

Contents 1 History of information graphics 1.1 Early experiments 1.2 Development of a visual language 1.3 Modern uses 2 Elements of information graphics 3 Modern practitioners of information graphics / design 4 Types of information graphic 5 Interpreting information graphics 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

History of information graphics

Early experiments

In prehistory, early humans created the first information graphics: maps. Map-making began several millennia before writing, and map at Çatalhöyük dates from around 7500 BCE.

In 1626 Christopher Scheiner published the Rosa Ursina sive Sol which used a variety of graphics to reveal his astronomical research on the sun. He used a series of images to explain the rotation of the sun over time (by tracking sunspots).

In 1786, William Playfair published the first data graphs in his book The Commercial and Political Atlas. The book is filled with statistical graphs that represent the economy of 18th century England using bar charts and histograms. Playfair innovated again in 1801 with the first area chart in Statistical Breviary.

James Joseph Sylvester introduced the term "graph" in 1878 and published a set of diagrams showing the relationship between chemical bonds and mathematical properties. These were also the first mathematic graphs.

1861 saw the release of a seminal information graphic on the subject of Napoleon's disastrous march on Moscow. The creator, Charles Joseph Minard, captured four different changing variables that contributed to the failure, in a single two-dimensional image:

• the army's distance and direction as they travelled
• the altitude the troops passed through
• the size of the army as troops died from hunger and wounds
• the freezing temperatures they experienced

Development of a visual language

In 1936 Otto Neurath introduced a system of pictographs intended to function as an international visual or picture language. Isotype included a set of stylized human figures which were the basis for the ubiquitous modern stick figures.

The 1972 Munich Olympics were the venue for Otl Aicher to introduce a new set of pictograms that proved to be extremely popular, and influenced the ubiquitous modern stick figures used in public signs.

Modern uses

• 1982 - USA Today's weather page

Elements of information graphics

The basic material of an information graphic is the data, information, or knowledge that the graphic presents. In the case of data, the creator may make use of automated tools such as graphing software to represent the data in the form of lines, boxes, arrows, and various symbols and pictograms. The information graphic might also feature a key which defines the visual elements in plain English. A scale and labels are also common.

Modern practitioners of information graphics / design

A statistician and sculptor, Edward Tufte has written a series of highly regarded books on the subject of information graphics. Tufte also delivers lectures and workshops on a regular basis. He describes the process of incorporating many dimensions of information into a two-dimensional image as 'escaping flatland.'

Nigel Holmes is an established commercial creator of what he calls "explanation graphics". His works deal not only with the visual display of information but also of knowledge - how to do things. He created graphics for Time magazine for 16 years, and is the author of several books on the subject.

Close and strongly related to the field of information graphics, is information design. Actually, making infographics is a certain discipline within the information design world. Modern day American information designers, like Nigel Holmes, Edward Tufte, Peter Sullivan and Sam Ward, Donald Norman; are accompanied by a very active Dutch information designer: Paul Mijksenaar. His Amsterdam and New York based design studio is specialized in the development of visual oriented information systems. They create so called wayfinding and waysigning systems for all kinds of large public transport systems and infrastructures. Examples of their work are, the signing systems for airports in the Netherlands (Schiphol, Amsterdam), but also for airports in Italy and the United States like: JFK Airport and Dallas Forth Worth.

Another good example of modern day practitioners of information graphics is the French bureau d'études. A bureau which visualizes a lot of complex matters like the governmental structures of power in the United States. Or the way the media in the States are linked and related together in an data driven war. They create maps about autonomous knowledges and powers, art and economies, governing by networks, world governance by private bankers, or maps about the contemporary bio-control systems. The bureau visualizes these complex organization structures by mapping them, which should be a very effective way of making complex information more easily accessible. But what they want to show, is mainly how complex certain (media) structures are and what the actual relations are, without simplifying them. And without making it easy to overview and to understand. So basically the main objective within information design is not pursued and what you get as a 'reader' is an information overload. But it serves another goal and the public is very select.

Types of information graphic

• chart
• flowchart
• histogram
• graph
• map
• diagram
• contour map
• isotherm
• mind map
• signage systems

Interpreting information graphics

Many information graphics are specialised forms of depiction that represent their content in sophisticated and often abstract ways. In order to interpret the meaning of these graphics appropriately, the viewer requires a suitable level of graphicacy. In many cases, the required graphicacy involves comprehension skills that are learned rather than innate. At a fundamental level, the skills of decoding individual graphic signs and symbols must be acquired before sense can be made of an information graphic as a whole. Howevever, knowledge of the conventions for distributing and arranging these individual components is also necessary for the building of understanding.

References

• "Blood, Dirt, and Nomograms: A Particular History of Graphs", Thomas L. Hankins, Isis, University of Chicago Press (1999, 90: 50-80). [1]
• "Designing Infographics" (1998), Eric K. Meyer

See also

• information visualization

External links

• Edward Tufte
• informationdesign.org
• Examples of information graphics
• Paul Mijksenaar
• Milestones in the History of Thematic Cartography, Statistical Graphics and Data Visualization
• Nigel Holmes, the Explanation Graphics and the Power of Pictures
• Richard Saul Wurman's excellent visual overview of information about the United States
• mappings by bureau d'étueds
• The World As Flatland
• Funnel Inc. - infodesign for marketing, branding and wayfinding

This article is based on the article "Infographics" from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License. Here you find the list of authors of this article. The article can only edited within Wikipedia. Edit this article in Wikipedia.