The simple genius of a good graphic | Tommy McCall

翻译人员: jacks peng 校对人员: Yinchun Rui

I love infographics.

我爱信息图表。

As an information designer,

作为一个信息设计师，

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

在过去25年中，我跟各种各样的数据打交道。

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

我有一些见解要分享，但首先讲点历史。

Communication is the encoding, transmission and decoding of information.

沟通是对信息的编码、传输和解码。

Breakthroughs in communication mark turning points in human culture.

沟通的突破标志着人类文化的转折点。

Oracy, literacy and numeracy were great developments in communication.

在沟通方面，语言，文字和算术能力 得到了很大的发展。

They allow us to encode ideas into words

它们让我们可以把想法编码为文字

and quantities into numbers.

并量化成数字。

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

没有沟通能力，我们就会被困在石器时代。

Although humans have been around for a quarter million years,

尽管人类已经存在25万年，

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

但人类最早期的书写浮出水面只有8千年。

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

在将近3000年后， 首个合适的书写系统成形。

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

地图存在几千年，图表则有数百年之久，

but representing quantities through graphics

但通过图形来表示数量

is a relatively new development.

还是一个相对较新的发展。

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

直至1786年威廉·普莱费尔 发明的首个条形图，

giving birth to visual display of quantitative information.

才催生了数量信息的视觉显示。

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

15年后，他引入了首个饼图和面积图。

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

他这些发明仍是今天最常使用的图表类型。

Florence Nightingale invented the coxcomb in 1857

1857年弗洛伦斯·南丁格尔发明了锯齿图

for a presentation to Queen Victoria on troop mortality.

来向维多利亚女王介绍部队死亡率。

Highlighted in blue,

蓝色强调部分，

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

她展示了军队的大多数死亡可以如何被避免。

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

不久之后，查尔斯·米纳德绘制了 拿破仑进军俄罗斯的图表，

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

展示了一支42.2万人的军队是如何 在战斗，地理和冰冻的影响下

as battles, geography and freezing temperatures took their toll.

付出惨痛代价减少到只有1万人的。

He combined a Sankey diagram with cartography

他将桑基图与制图学

and a line chart for temperature.

和温度线图表结合在一起。

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

有很多数据可以摆弄总令我兴奋，

especially when it yields an interesting chart form.

特别是当它产生一个有趣的图表形式时。

Here, Nightingale's coxcomb was the inspiration

这里，奈廷格尔的锯齿图是

to organize data on thousands of federal energy subsidies,

成千联邦政府能源补贴 数据组织的最佳呈现，

scrutinizing the lack of investment in renewables over fossil fuels.

审查了可再生能源投入 相较化石能源的不足。

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

这个桑基图展示了 美国经济中的能源流动，

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

强调了近一半的能源消耗 是作为废热流失的。

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

我喜欢把数据雕刻成漂亮的形状。

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

这里，硅谷女性的个人和职业联系

can be woven into arcs,

可以被编织成弧线，

same as the collaboration of inventors birthing patents across the globe

就跟全球范围内发明家的协作

can be mapped.

可以映射出来一样。

I've even made charts for me.

我甚至为自己制作了图表。

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

我是个数字人，所以 我很少在拼字比赛中获胜。

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

我做了这个图表来记住 官方拼字字典里的

in the official Scrabble dictionary.

两个字母和三个字母的单词。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

知道这1168个单词显然是制胜法则。

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

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Sometimes I produce code to quickly generate graphics

有些时候我编写代码去把数千个数据点

from thousands of data points.

快速生成图片。

Coding also enables me to produce interactive graphics.

编码也让我可以制作交互式图表。

Now we can navigate information on our own terms.

现在我们可以根据自己的 条件来导航信息。

Exotic chart forms certainly look cool,

奇异的图表当然看起来很酷，

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

但小至简单的一个点就足以满足你所需

to solve a particular thinking task.

去解决特定的思考任务。

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

2006年，纽约时报重新 设计他们的市场板块，

cutting it down from eight pages of stock listings

将其从8页的股票清单削减到

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

只有1页半的基本市场数据。

We listed performance metrics for the most common stocks,

我们列出了最常用的股票指标，

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

但我想帮助投资者了解这些股票表现如何。

So I added a simple little dot

所以我增加了一个简单小点

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

来展示现在价格在一年内的水平。

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

只需看一眼，价值投资者 就可以通过靠近左边的点

by looking for dots to the left.

去挑选出股价接近低位的股票。

Momentum investors can find stocks on an upward trajectory

短线投资者可以通过靠近右边的点

via dots to the right.

找出上升趋势的股票。

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

不久之后，华尔街日报复制了这个设计。

Simplicity is often the goal for most graphics,

简单化通常是大部分图表的目标，

but sometimes we need to embrace complexity

但有时候我们需要拥抱复杂

and show large data sets in their full glory.

并在他们的全部荣耀中展示大量数据集。

Alec Gallup, the former chairman of the Gallup Organization,

亚力克·盖洛普，盖洛普公司的前主席，

once handed me a very thick book.

有次给了我一本非常厚的书。

It was his family's legacy:

这是他们家族的遗产：

hundreds of pages covering six decades of presidential approval data.

数百页纸涵盖了60年的总统支持率数据。

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

我告诉他整本书可以图表化在一页上。

"Impossible," he said.

“不可能”，他说。

And here it is:

这就是：

25,000 data points on a single page.

一页中展示25,000个数据点。

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

一眼就可以看出，多数总统 以高支持率开场，

but few keep it.

但很少能够维持。

Events like wars initially boost approval;

像战争那样的事件最初会提升支持率；

scandals trigger declines.

丑闻会引发下降。

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

这些重要事件在图表中 被注释，在书中可不行。

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

要点在于，图表可以 以惊人的效率传输数据。

Graphicacy --

书画刻印技能——

the ability to read and write graphics --

读和写图的能力——

is still in its infancy.

仍然处于早期。

New chart forms will emerge and specialized dialects will evolve.

新的图表将会出现， 特殊的方言将会发展。

Graphics that help us think faster

图表可以帮我们更快地思考

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

或在一页纸上看到一本书的信息

are the key to unlocking new discoveries.

是开启新发现的关键。

Our visual cortex was built to decode complex information

我们的视觉皮层是用来解码复杂信息的，

and is a master at pattern recognition.

它是模式识别的大师。

Graphicacy enables us to harness our built-in GPU

图形化可以让我们利用我们的内置GPU

to process mountains of data

处理海量数据

and find the veins of gold hiding within.

去发现藏在里面的金子。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause and cheers)

（鼓掌）