A pre-digital Infographic (Hadrian's Wall)

 

 

 

In 1972, on holiday in the Lake District, my parents took my sister and I on an excursion to see Hadrian’s Wall. We visited Vindolanda, where I bought this Information Booklet. Somehow, I have retained it through every house move, as a memento of that visit. It was shown to my own children after I dragged them to see the wall on the way back from the Scottish Islands in 2015; I thought then how well done it was. It has seen the light of day again during the unpacking of the last few boxes from our last move in 2017, leading me to think about infographics, something we think of as a digital tool. This is definitely pre-digital.

I think it has worn well. It is elegantly designed, using the fold-out format to accommodate the long stretch of the wall. Around the wall itself are a series of pictures and text boxes (a reminder that most Word functions are simply digital versions of long-established practices, including cut and paste!) that convey a lot of information in a succinct form. I was eleven years old when I bought it and it worked for me then. It still works now; as well as providing information it is aesthetically pleasing. The subtle use of red and green and highlighters is effective and the images are well chosen to show objects that have been found by archaeologists. I like the combination of drawings of finds and diagrams.

If some-one wanted to produce a digital version they do worse than start with this, then adding hyperlinks through the pictures and at different points along the wall to take the viewer to more detailed explanations and/or videos of the locations.

This is now something of an artefact; a relic of a pre-digital era, a personal reminder for me of my past, which can nonetheless still do the job it was made for. Whoever created this should be proud of their handiwork, whoever you are, you did a great job.

It is also a reminder that Infographics has a long and distinguished history and is not simply a product of the digital age. If you want to engage people, images are important, and keeping text short can be important too. Blending the two together effectively is not always as easy as it looks. One great example is the Sunday Times Complete History of the World, another great artefact that uses this technique to perfection. This is the two page spread about Byzantium: 

 So, the next time you see something like this, think about the work that goes into it and the history behind the format.