How the history of dataviz makes us better analysts today

Over the summer, I was lucky to see physical copies of some of the most influential visualizations of all time. I have long been inspired by how the pioneers intuited their way to effective communication of data. More than ever, I realise that knowing our craft’s history makes us better analysts. Here’s 3 great stories to back this up. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

My visit to Princeton to see DuBourg, Priestley and Playfair works (gravyanecdote.com, 7 minute read)

This article is inspired by me finally getting to see the original 1753 Carte Chronographique by Jacques Barbeu-DuBourg. This machine contains an 18-metre timeline housed in a wooden scrolling device. It’s the first ever time a continuous timeline was placed on an x-axis. Every time you build a line chart in Tableau, there’s a line in history tracing right back to this wonderful piece. DuBourg innovated in many ways: drop lines, shape encoding, and scrolling. We take those for granted today, and yet, it was all considered centuries ago, and hand-engraved! Click the link to see what I discovered seeing DuBourg, and more, in the flesh.

Interview with dataviz historian Sandra Rendgen (PolicyViz, 30 minute listen)

Sandra Rendgen has published two great books recently: a collection of Minard’s charts, and the mammoth “History of Information Graphics”. In this interview with Jon Schwabish, Sandra explains why looking into history helps us as data users today. She explains the power of considering what motivated the creators of historical visualizations. How were they funded? Who was their audience? How did they get critique? She says that studying the history of our field leads to a better critical mindset. I highly recommend her books – they are beautiful and inspiring.

Interactive design in early printed books (Aaron Pratt, 6 min)

Finally, lest you think historical vizzes are all about static charts, think again. Interactivity as a means to engage and increase insight is older than you think, as Aaron Pratt explains. Interactivity is automatic in Tableau; so much so we sometimes don’t consider the end-user’s experience carefully enough. Early bookmakers and printers realised interactivity allowed the user to glean more information than a static page could. They realised it created deeper engagement. Their solutions were ingenious, and because they were hard to create, were well thought out. Today interactivity is commoditized to the point that it can be taken for granted, sometimes to the detriment of the end user. A view on Tableau Server isn’t complete until you’ve considered the interactive experience!