Editing Infographic (section)

=== 20th century ===
[[File:The Georgia Negro - Occupations of Negroes and whites in Georgia.tif|thumb|left|Circle graph shows percentage of African Americans and whites in various occupations.]]In 1900, the African-American historian, sociologist, writer, and Black rights activist, [[W.E.B. Du Bois]] presented data visualizations at the {{lang|fr|[[Exposition Universelle (1900)]]|italic=no}} in Paris, France. In addition to curating 500 photographs of the lives of Black Americans, Du Bois and his Atlanta University team of students and scholars created 60 handmade data visualizations<ref name=Battle-Baptiste>{{cite book|last1=Battle-Baptiste|first1=Whitney|last2=Rusert|first2=Britt|title=W. E. B. Du Bois's Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America|date=2018|publisher=Princeton Architectural Press|location=Massachusetts|isbn=978-1-6168970-6-2}}</ref> to document the ways Black Americans were being denied access to education, housing, employment, and household wealth.<ref>Manski, Jackie, "W.E.B. Du Bois’ Visionary Infographics Come Together for the First Time in Full Color", smithsonianmag.com, November 15, 2018. [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/first-time-together-and-color-book-displays-web-du-bois-visionary-infographics-180970826/]</ref>

The [[Cologne Progressives]] developed an aesthetic approach to art that focused on communicating information.<ref name=Roth>{{cite book|last1=Roth|first1=Lynette|title=Painting as a weapon : progressive Cologne 1920–1933 : Siewert, Hoerle, Arntz|date=2008|publisher=Walther König|location=Köln|isbn=978-3-86560-398-2|edition=translation, Uta Hoffman}}</ref> [[Gerd Arntz]], [[Peter Alma]] and [[Augustin Tschinkel]], all participants in this movement were recruited by [[Otto Neurath]] for the [[Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum]], where they developed the [[Vienna Method]] from 1926 to 1934. Here simple images were used to represent data in a structured way. Following the victory of [[Austrofascism]] in the [[Austrian Civil War]], the team moved to the [[Netherlands]] where they continued their work rebranding it [[Isotype (picture language)|Isotypes]] (International System of Typographic Picture Education). The method was also applied by [[IZOSTAT]] (ИЗОСТАТ) in the [[Soviet Union]].

In 1942 [[Isidore Isou]] published the [[Lettrist]] manifesto, a document covering art, culture, poetry, film, and political theory. The included works also called [[metagraphics]] and [[hypergraphics]], are a synthesis of writing and visual art.

In 1958 [[Stephen Toulmin]] proposed a graphical argument model, called The Toulmin Model of Argumentation. The diagram contained six interrelated components used for analyzing arguments and was considered Toulmin's most influential work, particularly in the field of rhetoric, communication, and computer science. The Toulmin Model of Argumentation became influential in argumentation theory and its applications.

In 1972 and 1973, respectively, the [[Pioneer 10]] and [[Pioneer 11]] spacecraft included on their vessels the [[Pioneer Plaque]]s, a pair of gold-anodized aluminum plaques, each featuring a pictorial message. The pictorial messages included nude male and female figures as well as symbols that were intended to provide information about the origin of the spacecraft. The images were designed by [[Carl Sagan]] and [[Frank Drake]] and were unique in that their graphical meanings were to be understandable to extraterrestrial beings, who would have no conception of human language.

A pioneer in data visualization, [[Edward Tufte]], wrote a series of books – ''Visual Explanations'', ''The Visual Display of Quantitative Information'', and ''Envisioning Information'' – on the subject of information graphics.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tufte |first=Edward R. |author-link=Edward Tufte |year=1990 |title=Envisioning Information|publisher=Graphics Press |url=https://archive.org/details/envisioninginfor00tuft |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-9613921-1-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Tufte |first=Edward R. |author-link=Edward Tufte |edition=2nd |orig-year=1st Pub. 1983 |year=2001 |title=The Visual Display of Quantitative Information |publisher=Graphics Press |isbn=978-0-9613921-4-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/visualdisplayofq00tuft }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Tufte |first=Edward R. |author-link=Edward Tufte |year=1997 |title=Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative |publisher=Graphics Press |isbn=978-0-9613921-2-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/visualexplanatio00tuft }}</ref> Referred to by [[The New York Times]] as the "[[da Vinci]] of Data", Tufte began to give day-long lectures and workshops on the subject of infographics starting in 1993. {{as of|2012}}, Tufte still gives these lectures.<ref>Freymann-Weyr, Jeffrey, "Edward Tufte, Offering 'Beautiful Evidence'", NPR.org, August 20, 2006. [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5673332]</ref>  To Tufte, good data visualizations represent every data point accurately and enable a viewer to see trends and patterns in the data. Tufte's contribution to the field of data visualization and infographics is considered immense, and his design principles can be seen in many websites, magazines, and newspapers today.<ref>Romano, Andrew, "How Master Information Designer Edward Tufte Can Help Obama Govern", thedailybeast.com, March 9, 2010.  [http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/blogs/the-gaggle/2010/03/09/how-master-information-designer-edward-tufte-can-help-obama-govern.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907125014/http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/blogs/the-gaggle/2010/03/09/how-master-information-designer-edward-tufte-can-help-obama-govern.html|date=2015-09-07}}</ref>

The infographics created by [[Peter Sullivan (designer)|Peter Sullivan]] for [[The Sunday Times]] in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s were some of the key factors in encouraging newspapers to use more infographics. Sullivan is also one of the few authors who have written about information graphics in newspapers. Likewise, the staff artists at USA Today, the [[United States]] newspaper that debuted in 1982, established the goal of using graphics to make information easier to comprehend. However, the paper has received criticism for oversimplifying news stories and for creating infographics that some find emphasizes entertainment over content and data. Tufte coined the term [[chartjunk]] to refer to graphics that are visually appealing to the point of losing the information contained within them.

With [[vector graphics]] and [[raster graphics]] becoming ubiquitous in computing in the 21st century, data visualizations have been applied to commonly used computer systems, including [[desktop publishing]] and [[Geographic Information System]]s (GIS).

Closely related to the field of information graphics is [[information design]], which is the creation of infographics.