The handmade beauty of Machine Age data visualizations
16 hours ago
- #Design as Thinking
- #Machine Age Creativity
- #Data Visualization History
- William James, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Francis Galton used diagrams and drawings as integral tools for thinking, not just decorative outputs.
- James contributed to data visualization with early schematics of neural networks and models of consciousness, blending visual art with psychology.
- Galton pioneered data visualization in meteorology and mental imagery, but his work was tied to eugenics, promoting data-driven human classification.
- Du Bois combined James's pluralism and Galton's measurement techniques to create hand-drawn visualizations advocating for Black progress and civil rights.
- Handmade data visualizations from the Machine Age reflect a union of mental and manual labor, emphasizing design as a form of thought.
- Modern AI tools like Claude Design automate design but risk losing the personal, idiosyncratic perspective seen in historical visualizations.
- The article suggests that engaging in hands-on creative processes, like scrapbooking, can enhance research and idea generation in a digital age.