JKR

Newsnight did a great piece last week about the rise and ubiquity of beautiful information graphics as the number crunching trend du jour. It ended with David McCandless and Neville Brody debating the merits of the approach.

One imagines that outside design circles the debate was an unedifying display of airy statements and designer bitchiness “your work’s very pretty, well done” sniped Brody patronisingly. Given that Brody is still saddled with the reputation he made in the ’80s designing uber trendy magazine The Face, this seemed a little rich.

Designer luvvies aside, it’s significant that the trend warrants Newsnight airtime. In fairness, McCandless is probably one of the most influential graphical communicators today. It’s his work illustrating this post. With two billion computers worldwide filling our heads with over-information we are clearly looking for ways to make all those facts and figures both easily digestible and (crucially ignored in the debate) not dreary. If the facts also work as eye candy, there is a chance we might engage with them.

What I am wondering is why no mainstream brand has adopted the approach yet to dramatise its nutritional or sustainable claims online or on pack. A small prize to the first reader who sends in a good example proving otherwise.