Black History Month: W.E.B. Du Bois
Every designer knows the power of infographics and how they can transform abstract data into meaning. Visualizing data is so ubiquitous, we rarely think about its beginnings. Although he wasn’t the first to use infographics, W.E.B. Du Bois (sociologist, activist, writer and founder of the NAACP) pioneered graphic representations of data in a series of 60 data visualizations for the Exposition Universelle in Paris of 1889, revealing to the rest of the world the inequities that prevailed post-emancipation.
The style and aesthetics of these graphics were innovative for their time. Geometric forms, bright colors and hairline type hand drawn by Du Bois were elements that preceded modern European art and design movements such as De Stijl and Bauhaus by at least a decade.
These are an inspiration and reminder that design can be a tool for social change. See any recent infographics that have changed your perspective?
To learn out more, check out these powerful data visualizations in the book "W.E.B. Du Bois' Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America", available through Mast Books here: https://lnkd.in/geDyryFG
Check out the other influential Black designers and artists in this series: Sun Ra and His Arkestra and Reynolds Ruffins.
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