Response to Graphic Design, Diagrams Chapter

The diagrams chapter in Lupton and Phillips' book, Graphic Design: The New Basics blew me away. When I think of diagrams, graphs, and charts, I think of simple pie graphs, bar graphs, and even line graphs that depict numbers (money, amounts of people, etc.). I never thought that topics such as these could be so effectively diagrammed, and though some of the diagrams are extremely complex, none of them are impossible to analyze and comprehend. One of the most interesting diagrams in the chapter, to me, is the example on page 208 that, "visualizes complex relationships surrounding worldwide terrorist groups."

I have spent so much time learning about utilizing text to support my opinions, views, and arguments, that I never spent any time thinking about ways that visuals can be used to achieve the same means. In the past, I have skipped over side bars and graphs in newspapers and magazines, but I am going to pay a lot more attention to those visual aids now. I am starting to see just how important visuals are in aiding our comprehension, and the differences between reading something versus seeing it. For example, if a student told me he/she does all of the activities listed on the diagram on page 204 every day, I would be surprised--but seeing the chaos and the sheer volume within the graph illustrates the point much better than telling me orally would.

Additionally, some of these diagrams don't even strike me as being a diagram. For example, the diagrams on page 198, 205, and 210-11 look, at first glance, to be merely works of art. If I passed by them while browsing a magazine, I may have regarded them as such and not taken the time to analyze the intricate diagram within the image. Seeing this type of diagram will certainly make me more aware in the future to keep an eye out for graphic representations of this nature.