I had the opportunity to participate in a discussion on CartoTalk today about the way in which information (and, more specifically, geography and maps) can be skewed and distorted to fit one’s own world view. If we, as designers, tend to be _______-centric, the images we will create can often-times reflect those views and beliefs.
The discussion reminded me of Saul Steinberg’s “View of the World” illustration for the March 29, 1976 cover of The New Yorker. Once you pass the Hudson River to the West, you basically will only encounter a few rock formations and a tumbleweed here or there until you reach the Pacific Ocean! Thank goodness I found one of those rock formations for shelter here in Minnesota, or our firm would be in big, BIG trouble! 
As you might have noticed from a few of the links above, I am referencing information on the Wikipedia web site. Wikipedia is a phenomenal resource! However, it often falls prey to many of the same trappings of other web sites which allow participants to actively share image content (eBay, MySpace, Flickr, etc.): it is often-times a DISASTER when it comes to the issue of sharing visual content in an efficient manner.
Saul Steinberg, cover of The New Yorker, March 29, 1976.
© The Saul Steinberg Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Cover reprinted with permission of The New Yorker magazine. All rights reserved.
Unoptimized 440×600 pixel 8-bit .png image – 437 KB
Saul Steinberg, cover of The New Yorker, March 29, 1976.
© The Saul Steinberg Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Cover reprinted with permission of The New Yorker magazine. All rights reserved.
Optimized 440×600 pixel 8-bit .png image – 96 KB
The above image of Steinberg’s “View of the World” graphic is a perfect illustration of this fact. What is now an image nearly half a megabyte in size can easily be reduced to less than 100 KB (78 percent savings). What is interesting is the fact that I am sure the individual who posted the graphic thought they were doing a great thing by using 8-bit .png versus .jpg for that particular image! However, so much more related to graphics optimization was still left undone…resulting in an incredible waste of time and bandwidth.
That’s not to imply criticism towards the person responsible for posting the image! Heck, make me plumb my own house, fix my own car or add amperage to my home office and you would likely have a death, insurance claim or lawsuit on your hands! All I am intending to say is that there needs to be at least some form of checks and balances related to the monitoring of image content on these types of sites. Either that, or HUGE amounts of wasted resources will inevitably ensue.
Sorry for the “sermonette” this evening! I’m sure that my own “View of the World from Burns Avenue” is often quite skewed as well! I just LOVE the internet and all that is possible as a result of it…and want to do my part to help encourage the wise and efficient use of resources related to that particular medium.
my wife and i had seen a steinberg exhibit at vassar college in poughkeepsie, new york. it was a very comprehensive collection that spanned mr. steinberg’s earliest and latest career.
what never ceases to thrill me is his versatility and the way he incorporated print into his graphics. he was a master forger during the war, and it comes as no surprise that he saw himself as writer who just happened to know how to illustrate rather than a graphic artist. absolutely no one past or present can parallel his delicate lines, varied texture, restrained palettes, and free flowing continuous stream of ink. his linework seems to be off dancing in the air like some graceful phantom that improvisers a dance with the full knowledge that there is classical training in his step. steinberg’s lines are have their own pulse, yet they are fully controlled by his mastered hand. there is a free spiritedness about his work that is there to tempt, tickle, provoke, and make you think. i am afraid there will never be another like him.
Left by robert rendo on August 2nd, 2008