Diagrams

The first diagram in Graphic Design really caught my eye—both with the scrolls that reminded me of Spenserian script and the subtle (okay, that red heart is not very subtle) use of color. I would like to see a larger version so I could see the photographs more clearly. The musicality of it did not appear to me until class, as the identification of Marian Bantjes’s fondness for medieval and Celtic illumination and things baroque was enough for me to relate to it—I used a picture from the Lindesfarne Gospels as part of my Power Point lecture on Beowulf and I could see the resemblance. The networks on Page 201 reminded me of some of the geometric embroidery patterns I have done on evenweave fabric and perforated paper, the “tube” knockoff (I believe the London diagram gets points for originality, not Tokyo) caught my eye having travelled the London tube extensively one summer (I even have a coffee mug with the Tube map on it), but there is an even better representation in David Booth’s 1986 poster, The Tate Gallery by Tube, where the subway diagram is made up of rolls of paint squeezed out of the tubes (so great play of the word “tube”). Visually the insect phobia map interested me because I like (and appreciate) the detail in 19th century engraving (I never took engraving, but my classmates who did expressed much frustration when mistakes were made). Meanwhile, the diagram of “The Sordid Underbelly of One Girl’s Filthy Apartment” did not interest me that much visually (although I could tell common symbols used in setting out a floor plan for interior design were used); however, the text was hilarious—especially the references to dust bunnies, dead insects, and found change.