Stereotypes
This info graphic is made by New York Times' Christoph Niemann, and it shows some of the stereotypes around the World - but mainly in the U.S. and especially in New York.
What I like about this graphic is that it is very easy to understand quite quickly, even though it is quite dense. Using only three colors and no additional elements for purely decoration makes it seem more light.
And then it's redundant in a good way - by making not just one arrow saying "arrogant" in Europe, it makes a lot of them all over the map - and the exaggeration makes the point, the joke.
It's also pretty original. The using of maps and arrows showing a tendency, an exchange of money or something similar is very familiar to all kinds of audiences. What makes this graphic a bit original is that it makes huge lumps of the arrows to show the point. It's also pretty original to make a map with completely wrong proportions, making New York the center of the World.
You can find the graphic here
I do agree that the infographic is indeed very original - both in it's way of telling the message (in a funny way with different proportions than we are used to), and in it's usage of arrows in a funny way as you described it.
ReplyDeleteI think the graphic is a bit too tense. The author could have deleted some of the jokes (arrows) as some of the points are the same. In that way, it is good that the designer did not use any decoration - that would have made the density even worse.
When it, despite of the density, still functions, is because of the immediate understanding of the message and the intend (joke) by the use of funny fonts.
I get your point, but my guess is that the intend with the huge amount of arrows is to show the overload of stereotypes in the World. But I agree with you that it makes it a bit messy.
ReplyDeleteI think the density is an important aspect of the joke as well. It makes fun of local patriotism and the western centred view of the US.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the graphic even appears a little bit like an expressionism art work because of the use of contrasty colours.
Here a link to a similar graphic, focused on Europe: http://de-bug.de/medien/files/2010/10/artwork-mapping-stereotypes-03.jpg
Nice link, thanks! I agree with you that the amount of arrows - that makes the graphic rather dense - is part of the joke as well. It emphasize the huge amount of stereotypes in the World.
ReplyDeleteI think this graphic is really original, and I like it. But I thint there's a lack of hierarchy, when you look at it you do not know where to start looking it from. But is really curious :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that there isn't any clear hierarchy in this information graphic, but do you think there has to bee? As long as you don't get confused or loose the point. In this specific graphic you don't have to look at all the continents to get the joke.
ReplyDelete