The simple genius of a good graphic | Tommy McCall

Translator: Benjamin Hilligsøe Harvey Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

I love infographics.

Jeg elsker infografikker.

As an information designer,

Som en information designer,

I've worked with all sorts of data over the past 25 years.

har jeg arbejdet med alle slags data igennem de sidste 25 år.

I have a few insights to share, but first: a little history.

jeg har et par indsigter at dele, men først: lidt historie.

Communication is the encoding, transmission and decoding of information.

Kommunikation er kodning, transmission og afkodning af information.

Breakthroughs in communication mark turning points in human culture.

Fremskridt i kommunikation markerer vendepunkter i menneskelig kultur.

Oracy, literacy and numeracy were great developments in communication.

Mundtlige, skriftlige og numeriske færdigheder var store udviklinger.

They allow us to encode ideas into words

De lader os kode ideer til ord

and quantities into numbers.

og mængder til tal.

Without communication, we'd still be stuck in the Stone Ages.

Uden kommunikation, vil vi stadig side fast i stenalderen.

Although humans have been around for a quarter million years,

Selv om at mennesker har eksisteret i en kvart million år,

it was only 8,000 years ago that proto-writings began to surface.

var det kun for 8.000 år siden at protoskrifter dukkede op.

Nearly 3,000 years later, the first proper writing systems took shape.

Næsten 3.000 år senere, kom de første rigtige skriftsystemer frem.

Maps have been around for millennia and diagrams for hundreds of years,

Kort har eksisteret i årtusinder og diagrammer i århundreder,

but representing quantities through graphics

men at repræsenter mængder igennem grafikker

is a relatively new development.

er en forholdsvis ny udvikling.

It wasn't until 1786 that William Playfair invented the first bar chart,

Det var ikke indtil 1786 at William Playfair opfandt den første søjlediagram,

giving birth to visual display of quantitative information.

og dermed fødte visuel fremvisning af kvantitativ information.

Fifteen years later, he introduced the first pie and area charts.

Femten år senere, introducerede han de første lagkage- og arealdiagrammer.

His inventions are still the most commonly used chart forms today.

Hans opfindelser er stadig de hyppigste anvendte diagrammer i dag.

Florence Nightingale invented the coxcomb in 1857

Florence Nightingale opfandt 'coxcombdiagrammet' i 1857

for a presentation to Queen Victoria on troop mortality.

til en præsentation til Dronning Victoria om soldatmortalitet.

Highlighted in blue,

Highlightede i blå,

she showed how most troops' deaths could have been prevented.

viste hun hvordan de fleste soldaters død kunne have været forhindret.

Shortly after, Charles Minard charted Napoleon's march on Moscow,

Kort tid efter, fulgte Charles Minard Napoleons march på Moskva,

illustrating how an army of 422,000 dwindled to just 10,000

og illustrerede hvordan en hær på 422.000 blev til bare 10.000

as battles, geography and freezing temperatures took their toll.

idet at slag, geografi og kulde slog ind.

He combined a Sankey diagram with cartography

Han kombinerede en Sankeydiagram med kartografi

and a line chart for temperature.

og et linjediagram for temperatur.

I get excited when I get lots of data to play with,

Jeg bliver spændt når jeg har masser af data at lege med,

especially when it yields an interesting chart form.

specielt når det frembringer en interessant diagramform.

Here, Nightingale's coxcomb was the inspiration

Her, var Nightingales coxcomb inspirationen

to organize data on thousands of federal energy subsidies,

til at organiser data om føderative energisubsidieringer,

scrutinizing the lack of investment in renewables over fossil fuels.

og nærstudere manglen af investering i vedvarende energi over fossilt brændstof.

This Sankey diagram illustrates the flow of energy through the US economy,

Dette Sankeydiagram illustrerer bevægelsen af energi igennem USAs økonomi,

emphasizing how nearly half of the energy used is lost as waste heat.

og understreger hvordan næsten halvdelen af energien bliver tabt som spildvarme.

I love it when data can be sculpted into beautiful shapes.

Jeg elsker det, når data kan formeres til smukke figurer.

Here, the personal and professional connections of the women of Silicon Valley

Her, kan de personlige og professionelle tilknytninger af Silicon Valleys kvinder

can be woven into arcs,

væves ind i buer,

same as the collaboration of inventors birthing patents across the globe

ligesom at samarbejdet mellem opfindere der føder patenter over kloden

can be mapped.

kan kortlægges.

I've even made charts for me.

Jeg har endda lavet skemaer til mig.

I'm a numbers person, so I rarely win at Scrabble.

Jeg kan lide tal, så jeg vinder sjældent Scrabble.

I made this diagram to remember all the two- and three-letter words

Jeg lavede denne diagram for at huske alle de to- og trebogstavsord

in the official Scrabble dictionary.

i den officielle Scrabble ordbog.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Knowing these 1,168 words certainly is a game changer.

At kende disse 1.168 ord er uden tvivl et fremskridt.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Sometimes I produce code to quickly generate graphics

Sommetider skriver jeg koder for at hurtigt skabe grafiker

from thousands of data points.

fra tusindvis af datapunkter.

Coding also enables me to produce interactive graphics.

At kode lader mig også producere interaktive grafiker.

Now we can navigate information on our own terms.

Så kan vi naviger information på vores egne betingelser.

Exotic chart forms certainly look cool,

Eksotiske skemaformer ser i hvert fald seje ud,

but something as simple as a little dot may be all you need

men bare et lille punkt kan være alt man har brug for

to solve a particular thinking task.

for at løse en specifik tænkeopgave.

In 2006, the "New York Times" redesigned their "Markets" section,

I 2006, gendesignede "New York Times" deres "Markets" sektion,

cutting it down from eight pages of stock listings

og skar den ned fra otte sider af aktieinformation

to just one and a half pages of essential market data.

til bare halvanden sider af essentiel markedsdata.

We listed performance metrics for the most common stocks,

Vi listede præstationsmålestokke for de almindeligste aktier,

but I wanted to help investors see how the stocks are doing.

men jeg ville hjælpe investorer til at se hvordan aktierne yder sig.

So I added a simple little dot

Så jeg tilsætte en simpel lille prik

to show the current price relative to its one-year range.

for at vise dens pris relativ til dens årlige prisudvikling.

At a glance, value investors can pick out stocks trading near their lows

Med et blik, kan værdiinvestorer finde aktier som sælges i deres lave ende

by looking for dots to the left.

ved at kigge efter prikker til venstre.

Momentum investors can find stocks on an upward trajectory

Momentuminvestorer kan finde aktier på forbedring

via dots to the right.

via prikker til højre.

Shortly after, the "Wall Street Journal" copied the design.

Kort efter, kopierede "Wall Street Journal" designet.

Simplicity is often the goal for most graphics,

Enkelthed er ofte målet for det fleste grafikker,

but sometimes we need to embrace complexity

men sommetider skal vi tage imod kompleksitet

and show large data sets in their full glory.

og vise store datasæt i deres helhed.

Alec Gallup, the former chairman of the Gallup Organization,

Alec Gallup, den tidligere direktør af Galluporganisationen,

once handed me a very thick book.

gav mig en gang en meget tyk bog.

It was his family's legacy:

Det var familieeftermælen:

hundreds of pages covering six decades of presidential approval data.

hundredvis af sider som dækkede seks årtier af præsidentiel godkendelsesdata.

I told him the entire book could be graphed on a single page.

Jeg fortalte ham, at hele bogen kunne vises på en enkel side.

"Impossible," he said.

»Umuligt«, sagde han.

And here it is:

Og her er det:

25,000 data points on a single page.

25.000 datapunkter på en enkel side.

At a glance, one sees that most presidents start with a high approval rating,

Man ser nemt at de fleste præsidenter begynder med en høj godkendelsesværdi,

but few keep it.

men få beholder det.

Events like wars initially boost approval;

Begivenheder som krige puster op godkendelse,

scandals trigger declines.

skandaler indfører fald.

These major events were annotated in the graphic but not in the book.

Disse store begivenheder var annoterede i grafikken, men ikke i bogen.

The point is, graphics can transmit data with incredible efficiency.

Det vigtige er, grafikker kan overfører data med fantastisk effektivitet.

Graphicacy --

Grafikfærdighed --

the ability to read and write graphics --

evnen til at læse og skrive grafikker --

is still in its infancy.

er stadig i sin barndom.

New chart forms will emerge and specialized dialects will evolve.

Nye skemaformer vil kom frem og specialiserede dialekter vil udvikle sig.

Graphics that help us think faster

Grafikker der hjælper tankegangen,

or see a book's worth of information on a single page

eller at se en bogfuld information på en enkel side,

are the key to unlocking new discoveries.

er nøglen til nye opdagelser.

Our visual cortex was built to decode complex information

Vores visuelle hjernedel var bygget til at afkode kompleks information

and is a master at pattern recognition.

og er mester i mønstergenkendelse.

Graphicacy enables us to harness our built-in GPU

Grafikfærdighed lader os anvende vores indbyggede GPU

to process mountains of data

til at processer bjerge af data

and find the veins of gold hiding within.

og finde guldårene gemte indeni.

Thank you.

Tak.

(Applause and cheers)

(bifald og jubel)