Iconic Visionaries of Design — W.E.B. Du Bois
Examining The History of Infographics and Data Visualization
Long before digital graphics, W.E.B. Du Bois was creating infographics by hand. Long before power point, he created visual exhibits featured at events like the Paris Exposition. He was a sociologist and a historian. He was an activist at the cutting edge of his time. But as an analyst, he was far, far ahead.
Visualization was a passion for Du Bois. He turned his research and field work in Philadelphia into a stunning and educational display. His exhibit for the Paris Exposition is featured along with its creator in picture on the left. Its shear scope is laudable, but the amount of data and innovation which he ‘exposed’ is all the more so.
Plenty Has Been Written About This Iconic Man
His body of work, his work ethic, his activism, and the way he represented, educated, and informed others on the plight & culture of African-Americans make him a popular subject. Along the way, his infographics have been featured prominently — but not always critically.
Color, Form, Design
WEB’s infographics are colorful. They make excellent use of available space. They most often utilize optimal densities — whether referring to the ratio of ink to paper or facts to color. Remember he was a pioneer, optimization of this caliber well exceeds expectation. While it is certainly possible that his techniques were more popular than history records, that would be a minor adjustment on his level of mastery.
Had he been born a century later, Du Bois’ sense of design would have meshed well in our world of Google & Apple. Perhaps he was a bit more vibrant, but his infographics are clear and crisp. The data visualization shown here is truly elegant. It utilizes a great color pallet, limits it segmentation to five meaningful categories, and presents its comparison percentages in true juxtaposition. The labeling is clean and completes the circle. It is functionally — a work of art.
But no one is perfect. Many authors like to feature the image selected by Public Domain Review above. That swirling visual is definitely eye-catching, but it also serves to distort a portion of the data. It is certainly not a catastrophic or even really misleading problem, but WEB on occasion did err on the side of attention and draw. Perhaps he would counter that his subject matter required that compromise to be recognized in its time? Perhaps he would point to an audience whose analytic acuity didn’t necessitate that level of accuracy? Both would be fair…
“Children learn more from what you are than what you teach.”
Du Bois was not inclined to whining or complaint. He was a man of action and purpose, who recognized the value of those ideals to the process of education. With that in mind, we will end this article with a book recommendation that captures his work. Biographies are great, but Du Bois would appreciate our emphasis. Thanks for reading!
For further inspiration from history consider Du Bois 1899 work:
