maxgadney.com

The Birth of the Bazooka (feat. Panzerfaust and Shaped Charges) - WWII mag.July'07

 

'Why Things Work'
The first graphic is all about shaped charge technology. It follows principles that I am trying to make regular in these technology/weapons graphics. That is to say I think it important to introduce the historical context of their use, to mention the scientific breakthrough, to show it in use and to show implications or how to defend against it. I find that explaining the above is alot more important than seeing how big something is or what is inside it. I'm more into 'Why Things Work' than 'How Things Work'.

'Show And Tell'
Some of the issues above are not necessarily things that lend themselves to a graphical approach but they are part of the story and need to be included.

Many information graphic designers shy away from using text in their work - seeing their mission to almost avoid text at all costs. I believe that graphics can only explain so much - as can text - and so we should use both, not allowing either to assume primacy unless the data or narrative demands so.

This contradicts the 'Show, don't Tell' approach. My approach is more 'Show And Tell'. I believe the combined use of graphics and text in close harmony communicates a high resolution of data with highly memorable results. I'll return to this point in a later post as I think there is alot in it.

Editorial Issues
There were a few things I had to leave out of this spread due to space constraints. I would have liked to have mentioned the use of shaped charge explosives against fortifications in the Nazi invasion of Belgium. I would also like to compared the different Allied Bazooka and PIAT.

US and them
It is an ongoing issue to provide a balanced view of the war while fulfilling expectations of a predominantly US readership. If we have not covered any US innovations after a year, we have done something wrong but I think the balance will be OK. The balance in the magazine may slant more US than the final book proposal but I'll decide that when I get to it. I am also aware that some of the magazine readers may already be familiar with the information I am giving them. I hope I can provide some new insights for them or at least give them a new way to explain to others what they already know.

Comments or email welcome
maxgadney@googlemail.com

(I haven't made this email linkable as most people do not use their default-set email programme that pops up when they click a mail address - copy the address into your normal mail programme.

A Visual Miscellany of World War 2 - book proposal

(Ill repeat some of this at the side of the site until there are more entries and i'll sort the archiving properly)

As well as working with World War II magazine, I am putting together a proposal for a book about World War II.

The Visual Miscellany of World War 2 differs from all other books on the subject in that it is illustrated purely in information graphics and reveals new insights in ways not possible with prose or photography. The book will be full colour and approximately 100-150 pages.

The sub-title is Tactics, Technology and Turning Points. These topics are particularly conducive to analysis and explanation by information graphics.

• 'Technology' is not just weaponry, but all man made tools that helped or hindered either side. My objective here is to show them all as tools designed for a purpose that fitted into a timeline of development and met a need for those who used them. An example of this is the story of the development of shaped-charge weaponry, featured in the July issue of World War II.

• 'Tactics' crosses over a lot with the above as all technologies need to be put to use in an organised manner. 'Tactics' refers to the organised orchestration of many technologies by the forces to meet their objectives. An example of this may be 'German Nightfighter tactics'.

• 'Turning Points' looks at larger events and seeks to explain them or at least show them in a new light by the use of information design. Turning points will look at what happens on a larger scale when specific tactics are employed. An example of this would be analysis of Hitler's stretching of resources after the invasion of Russia.

I will be posting various pieces about the progress of the book. Or if you would like to know more, please mail me at

maxgadney@googlemail.com

WW2 or WWII ?

You may see some inconsistency in my approach to the labelling of the 20th century's second major conflagration. Generally the US calls it 'World War Two' and the UK calls it 'The Second World War'.

The magazine is called 'World War II'. I presume this use of numerals is a typographic convention alluding to  history. The numerals 'II' seem a little grander than '2'.

That is the reason the working title for the book is World War '2' - it seems more accessible than 'II' or the UK version. It is my view that unless there are specific people you need to exclude, accessiblity is a good thing. Some may bring up the 'simplicity vs simplistic' point - 'why dumb down when you can raise standards?' but I believe the treatment of the subject matter is the serious matter, not the title.

Discussions about the visual articulation of information frequently drift to issues of treatment, detail and tone and we will discuss them elsewhere. My '2' can sit near their 'II' and somebody else's 'Second' - I am sure there is room for all.

World War II magazine

World War II magazine will be featuring one of my graphics every month as part of it's July 2007 relaunch.

Stephen Petranek is the Editor in Chief of the Weider History Group. We met at TED a few years ago and I did a talk on information graphics for him and his previous team at Discover magazine. I was asking his advice about the book proposal recently and he suggested we work together. Every month I liase with Stephen Budiansky who is the Editor of WWII and Wendy Palitz who is the art director. I won't go into the process right now but it's great to work with a team who trust each other's judgement.

The graphics that are featured in the magazine will be featured in the book - albeit with some modifications. Working with the magazine is helping me keep to a schedule of research, writing and drawing. It keeps me on my toes editorially but I also feel confident after learning various principles of storytelling from journalists at BBC News where I worked for 10 years.

The subject matter of the graphics in the magazine is weapons and technology. There are other subjects to tackle but we agreed it's good to stick to one area to begin with. I hope that these graphics will go beyond the cutaway, technical diagrams that are a staple of editorial (military) visual information.

I believe that all weapons, tools and technology are developed for a purpose and explaining the context of their development is more important than showing them in their realistic state. There are enough photo books to show you what this stuff looked like - my graphics should explain a few stages deeper.

I will discuss my approach to information graphics elsewhere on this site.

Apologies to folks in the UK who will find it harder to find WWII magazine. I'll be posting jpgs of the work as and when I can. One of the purposes of this site is to get your thoughts about the work, both the work you see and anything else you would like to see.

If you don't want to leave a comment then mail at

maxgadney@googlemail.com