Bella consults

Another fashion among information designers: geo-graphs without geo-info. Since I am a European Union dog, I know where Great Britain and Spain are. I sniff around for geographical relationships. More Diesel in the North? More in the South? Any regional influence? Something striking in German speaking countries? Or French? More mountains = more Diesel? More winter = less Diesel?

No, nothing.

New car registrations in Europe – 53.6 % of the 14.8 million new car registrations in Western Europe have been equipped with Diesel engines (2007). Largest Diesel market is Germany.

Note! The most noble purpose of a graphic: Show a (presumed) causal relationship. You use a map? Then your reader believes you think of a geographical issue.

My antidote to deco-geo as always: a pretty table, good to read, sortable, no problems with labeling, no Fizzel-Fazzel, no legend, no decoding. Wonderful.

Source: Graphic ams, 14/2008, p. 66

Today the 24 hours of Le Mans end. Many cars raced around in circles for very long. Me too. With my eyes. In the journal Auto Motor Sport (issue 13, June 5th, 2008, inlay p. 6–19). Data for Audi on page 10. Data for Peugeot on page 12. I keep on skimming back and forth. Then wham: paw on top and both tables are where they belong: side by side.

Now its making me real dizzy. Two zebras. One starts its gallop with grey the other with white.

The eye combines identical things. It hops from grey to grey and from white to white. The eye presumes meaning. But there is none. Besides that: low contrast, bad to read.