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Which Tank Was Tops? - World War II Magazine, January 2008

This month's graphic gives ammunition to those engaged in any 'best of' conversations around Tanks in WWII.

(I'll try to post some of the previous versions in a week or so - but am v busy with new mac and xmas parties - for US readers, we in the UK go out alot at Christmas Time.The main aim of the graphic is to be able to give people a framework to discuss the virtues of tanks in WWII. It doesn't necessarily seek to be conclusive although I do believe it shows some interesting patterns.

Editorial Issues
An influential factor was the volume of production undertaken by the US and Russia. This is hinted at but I was wondering if there was any way to show this on the graphic. I decided not as it would have been a distracting variable in this discussion.(rising bars along the years etc)

Life size calibre
I am working on another graphic, to be featured this year hopefully, showing how in the European Air War the Germans (especially) up-gunned to cannon where the US stayed with machine gun calibre bullets. An interesting point in the design is that the calibres of the projectiles are shown real size on the page.

I wondered if this was also possible with the tank calibres and I tried a bunch of different permutations but again, despite looking interesting, they didn't really allow comparison - and they all bled into each other. This would be interesting to put on a  wall chart or a larger format display but not here.

Barrel lengths and type of projectile
Some might argue that I have gone for the wrong or over-simplistic variables involved in assessing the effectiveness of tanks. Instead, I want to do some other graphics that explain factors as barrel length and velocity as well as comparing different types of shells and tank gunnery in general.

It does ask wider questions of how much data can be contained in a magazine-spread display as opposed to other media. (there aren't too many that compare with the high resolution of magazine printing - newsprint is poorer for instance.

One could argue that the web is a place for some of these issues - I will address that in a later article but these graphics are staying in print for the foreseeable future.

Taking out the KV2
I had included the KV2 heavy tank - partly because it is such a magnificent looking thing - and it also underlines (and over-illustrates) the Russian commitment to heavy tanks.

Variation in Tank Models within designations
One interesting fact which there was no room to show was the amount of development within Tank Models. There were many makes of the Panzer IV, with new armour and minor tweaks to the gun, iterating the machine towards the next model. There was also a lot of battle field modification at unitlevel, which would not have been noted and so the number of different tanks within seemingly set patterns is much more plentiful than at first seems.

Tank Silhouettes
I was thinking of adding a silhouette at the bottom of each 'bar' but at this size, they would not have been useful - and their minimal decorative quality at that size would have served only to distract.

Weight
I thought to indicate the weight of the tanks by showing the tracks as darker on the heavier tank - the reasoning being they would leave more of a mark on the page as they went across it - this was a bit too clever/ obtuse and again there was a danger that the graphic could be cluttered by this.

New Graphic up soon

Hi folks - I'll post my ideas about the January issue graphics when they are up on the historynet site.

Sorry about the wait for anyone who has come from the magazine to find out more.

Radar Rules the Waves - WWII Magazine, December 2007

This month's article is concerned with The Battle of the Atlantic.

Editorial Ideas
This is a big subject and initially I wanted to put alot more in the graphic.

I eventually decided to just concentrate on the Sonar and Radar war. There was also an idea to do a graphic (that will feature in the book proposal) on what I am calling 'The Radar Race', but the editor decided that that subject was pretty well covered and we should go for a lesser known aspect of the struggle for intelligence.

In concentrating on one aspect of The Battle of the Atlantic, I had a good opportunity to investigate others for a later date.

These include-

• Further exploration of the Leigh Light and it's use
• The Radar Race in the Air
• U-Boat attack tactics
• The Schnorkel U-Boat - German technology to enable longer diving times was late in delivery
• Torpedo technology
• The Air Gap and Anti-Submarine planes - especially the long range of the B-24 and how it helped to close the 'Air Gap'.

Design Factors
Timeline
This timeline is slimmed down and ultimately better for it.

It did include ranges of the radar too. It was difficult because some of them had a small - 20 mile  - range and some had a massive range - 300 miles. This would have made the scale too large and meaningful comparison would have been difficult.

I wanted to see if I could show the difference between airborne and shipborne too as regards range but again, doing the basics of presenting facts by date - and the amount of apace available - negated the ability to lay out the data in that way.

The timeline was initially just vertical solid lines, but the left-to-right fade gives it some movement and alludes to the subject without detrating from the data. There would probably not be any need to 'affect' left to right movement on a larger and more spacious timeline, where the eye builds up it's own head of steam across the page, but this one was small and fairly cramped and I wonder that the 'go faster' lines help it acheive a more 'kinetic' (albeit a little forced) quality.

'Kinetic composition'
I should credit this phrase to Chris Pullman of WGBH in the US. I am fortunate enough to know Chris through my fiancée and he gave me some good advice when I last saw him. He was looking at the Bazooka graphic (I always carry a small folio of work in progress around at conferences in case I bump into wise people) and he mentioned how I should seek to improve the 'kinetic' quality of the composition.

At that time, the sense of movement in the graphic - both to lead the eye - and for a degree of excitement - wasn't so pronounced and his use of that word pretty much told me what I should do. It's inspiring when someone speaks in words of instant affordance. Thanks Chris.

The MP43 / MP44 / StG44 Assault Rifle: Theory to Practice - WWII Magazine, November 2007

November's graphic in WWII Magazine is concerned with the creation of the first assault rifle by the Nazis. On a personal note, this is one of my favourites so far and the first one I did when I started this project last year.

Editorial Issues
Useful Range
In the hands of an expert, some of these weapons would have a much greater effective range but I looked at alot of different figures and these seem to be the best averages.

I hadn't realised what an effective and efficient weapon the Ppsh41 was until I started this graphic. Reading about whole divisions of Soviet troops equipped with these, you begin to get a picture of the attritional nature of the war and the force of the wave that crashed back on the Germans.

(Read Ivan's War for a superb account of the lot of the average Soviet infantryman in WWII. Very readable - more interested in the effect of these events on normal people as opposed to 'Order of Battle' detail.)

anyway - back to ...

Which weapons to include?
I missed out pistols - not influential enough on large actions. I decided to include heavy machine guns because they were often part of the battlefield, creating imbalances of firepower alongside these other weapons. At one point I was going to note the weight of each weapon, to show the trade-offs between weight and firepower. This would have been one variable too many in what was already quite a dense data visualisation.

The first?
One could argue that the FG42 was an earlier assault weapon. It does indeed merit a mention although it's use was not widespread.

Kalashnikov?
I am loathe to mention too much of the modern implications of these technologies. There is alot to be said about the influence of the  Germans on US weaponry since WWII - the M60 even looks like an FG42! I feel that discussing the present too much will take the WWII reader away from reflecting on the WWII era - important for appreciating the difficluties of manufacturing and technology at this time.

Design elements
Graphic Vistas
This graphic got me thinking about the landscape or 'vista' as a metaphor in information graphics. I hope I will explore some different techniques in the work for WWII Magazine but this one follows a common idea. It is the idea of an overview in the general theme and issues of a topic (the rifle range here) with data available one layer down - just as a graph shows you the general trend and then allows detail to be investigated. I have also added a formal 'tour' of the issues and an explaination in the story of the Stg44.

Everyday Activity
I reflected that showing all the data on a 'vista' with the viewer compositionally above the 'scene', able to survey and take in all was a good fit with our natrual perception systems. Every day, we are confronted with views and scenes that we need to  make sense of - and I felt that for this reason, the data presented on such a 'vista' woud be easier to digest.

Field of Vision
I further stretched my theory of the 'vista' being an easily digestable information format, by considering the human factors/ ergonomics of reading a magazine. When most people read the magazine, there will not be much room either side of the magazine for their remaining field of vison. The magazine, with 'vista' presentation, has replaced their normal view. It follows that replacing the brain's normal expectation of a view - with depth of field and significant objects - with another sort of view will be a more cognitively digestible way to convey informtion than a graphic that only works on the flat plane of the page.

Colour leads the Way
Thanks also to John (Grimwade) and Nigel (Holmes) who were really helpful with this one.
They both made the point that the central narrative  the 400m-Stg44 axis, should be raised above the rest of the data. On the version they saw, there was red elsewhere on the page, distracting the eye from a 1-2-3-4 narrative, attracting the eye to non-crucial visual elements (the explosions in the gun barrels on page 2 bottom left).

Delivering Flames and Fear - The Flamethrower - WWII Magazine, October 2007

Here is the graphic for WWII Magazine for October.

It is concerned with the development of the flamethrower - a weapon as effective as a psychological terror device as it was deadly against concealed troops. (Steve and his editorial folks have a done a good job of the headline in that respect).

The rest of the magazine looks really strong this month too - there are some very good articles and it is settling into a compelling product. (I've just been on holiday in the US and when I went in to a newstand to find a copy, they had sold out - always a sign of a popular product!)

I'll proceed as normal with some thoughts on the editorial content and design.

Editorial
Tanks, but no tanks
I missed out details of tanks that were equipped with flamethrowers. I wanted to concentrate on flamethrowers' use in small unit tactics - utilised effectively by the US in it's increasingly violent path towards the Japanese mainland. One could argue that this special context needs explaining more with maps etc, but I wanted a degree of generalism in the information. I will also be doing some work on the variations of tank design that will include these weapons.

Operator
I also wanted people to reflect on the hazardous nature of the operator. I had conflicting reports on the results of a direct hit on the fuel tanks and so didn't include that information - but there was no doubt that they were despised by their enemies and that would have placed an extra burden on men already undergoing an incredible amount of pressure.

The Survivor
In the use of the silhouette on the bottom right illustrates the point I make about the risks to the operator - it is another example of trying to use that area to lead people out of the military technology issues in this series and to get people to reflect on the human angle if possible. It is a picture of a man that doesn't in itself convey any information - this angle is discussed a little later on.

Napalm
One piece of information that didn't appear was information on the molecular structure of napalm. The text deals with it's chemical make up but I felt that a memorable way to convey this would be to show the complex carbon chains created by the addition of the napalm soap (compared to relatively simple kerosene without napalm). After asking some chemist friends, it turns out that the structure created by such a combination is not consistent and therefore hard to show with any integrity. It was a shame as I thought it would communicate the whole point of the need for napalm - one being it's long-burning nature - that matches the time it takes to read it's chemical structure.

Other Countries
All sides in WWII used these weapons but I concentrated on the US angle (a) because of the readership of the magazine (b) data on US small unit tactics was more readily available -(I have generally found that much data - casualties , research etc is very well documented by the US) (c) comparisons of flamethrowers would be moot - none were too different - it was tanks that really brought them to the next level. (Although tanks couldn't often get to the places, with the element of surprise, where they were most useful.)

Design
Visual Impact
It would have been quite possible to do this graphic in a more visually impartial way. With the dark background and more expressive flame jet, there is a element of subjectivity. The issues of decorative/ purely illustrative elements in information graphics is an important one. One could argue that a chart detailing most hated weapons would land the drama as much as the chiaroscuro of the flame against the dark background, but I thought I'd try it out. The jet across the page also binds the page - another one of my ongoing trials - I believe that visual information can be presented in paragraphs - not just big massive pictures.

Dots and Dashes
I have then swung the other way in explaining the covering fire by dots point (1) on the bottom left. Perhaps there is an uneasy mix of the expressive and the abstract. In my other work I find that different formats can co-exist but need to be labelled and consistent - maybe there is too much of a mix of styles here - but maybe not.

Anyway, that's it for thoughts on this one. I've got some interesting graphics from wartime magazines that I am going to put on the site for those of you wanting something else on these subjects apart from the monthly fare. I won't claim credit for them, and it maybe a little like reprinting old material but I am not sure many of you all will have seen it.

Summer Holidays

I'll be away for the next two weeks and in that time, the next graphic in WWII magazine may be published.
If you cannot wait until I post the details, then maybe check here around the 15th-20th August. I won't be giving away the subject matter but it's a good one - it's the first time I have used 3D software on an element of it and i'll be writing about the issues with that stuff when I return.

Site Complications

There may be some issues with the presentation of the site over the weekend - teething troubles while i get the domain names sorted  - yawn

all the same stuff is here though - read below for this month's graphic

Housekeeping - Punctuality and Page URLs

Just a couple of notes on the running of this site:

1) This month's graphic is up on the site now. I am trying to get this site perfectly synched with the release of the magazine and the updated HistoryNet page - two graphics in and we are nearly there.

2) (technical details here) The individual pages are not showing unique addresses yet. I need to fix this with my hosting service and Typepad. I do understand that those who will want to link will want those links  to be permanent so, again, please bear with me and I'll fix it soon.

Miscellanies - book proposal fleshed out a little

(Apparently pronounced with emphasis on the - Cell - thanks Bob)

Book Proposal

I have chosen Visual Miscellany as the working title of my book proposal.

It cover many bases and could be read as vague but I think the mass audience is getting used to the idea of what a miscellany is.

Here are some reasons:

There are already enough excellent encyclopedias and histories of WWII.

My book will present certain ideas that best communicated visually. This is the main reason for their collection.

Swollen Market

The military history book market place is so full that the only selling points are to have something new (many do not) or claim to be more concise and authoritative than the last person (Now Includes More Words!).

My book will show things as they haven't been shown and collected together before. That is a grand claim. The main theme at the moment is not weapons or tactics etc -  but the idea that there is a lot of different visual information there. A Visual Miscellany. It was actually Julia who came up with the M word)

Schott's Miscellanies

I recently got stuck on a train in the June '07 floods. I was reading the Times and came across a one-page Miscellany of British Prime Ministers. It was done by Ben Schott who has cornered the Miscellany market.

My first idea was that this information would have been much better presented more visually instead of the rather dry table. But I thought some more and decided that most of this info was best as a table (and it followed the Schott style guide -  so it looked good).

Well managed serendipity

I then thought about miscellanies more and realised that they are actually very well managed serendipitous journeys.  (Have they been rediscovered by a book industry confused at the new power of the web to connect the seemingly unrelated?)

They seem to be random lists, chaotic and unordered but actually they have underlying structure and foreshadowing. They let the reader build up a body of knowledge around a subject for themselves.

Not to negate narrative

The reader feels free in their wonderings and certainly not bogged down in an A to B journey. (Do not get me wrong - there is nothing wrong with good narrative but it was a revelation to think that a Miscellany can (and should?) have a structure - albeit a looser one - more open to interpretation by each of it's readers.

It's more about curating and presenting a bunch of stuff rather than being too strict with the overall strcuture. I am trying to make each page coherent though. It is just when to stop with that.

The spectrum of organisation

I am figuring out where on the spectrum of organisation my subject matter needs to be - rigourously ordered - purposeful argument - editted version - curated facts information - seemingly random facts - a big mess? (maybe not the last one)

At the moment I am settling on three main themes - tactics, technology and turning points. I hope that each of the spreads play chords that start some common themes throughout and between these alliterative lables.

Accessibility

I am still working through this - but I think there is an accessibility to a Miscellany and I would like to reach many with this book. They are sometimes overtly playful when the randomness is amped up and I think I will try to keep some order.

Comments welcome. (But do not ask why I am currently capitalising the M in Miscellany. I am not sure.)

Book List - WWII Summer Holiday Reading

In researching the magazine graphics and book proposal I have come across a fair few books on WWII. Below are some that do not contain some of the exact detail featured in the graphics but do paint different pictures of the war.

I have not included some of the better known books - John Keegan's are all excellent, especially 'Soldiers' - as are Anthony Beevor's 'Stalingrad' and 'Berlin'. A bigger list will appear at a later date.

Anyway,I have read these and they are excellent books. I have listed them in no particular order - although the first one reads most like a story:

The Forgotten Soldier
Guy Sajer
Sajer's journey takes him from basic training to the Russian front and back. This view of the war from a German soldier is beautifully written by someone in all the worst places at all the wrong times. (longish read)

The Boys' Crusade
Paul Fussell
Fussell was a soldier too, but this book is broader than a memoir. He is critical of much of the way the war was fought and shows us the undersides of stones often left uncovered by military history books on this subject. (shortish read)

The Battle of Hamburg
Martin Middlebrook
The perfect balance between military logistic detail and personal stories of all involved. Fantastic detail on bombing raids, air defence etc. He explains how this controversial episode came to pass and what it was like to experience it from all sides. (longish read)

Guns, Germs and Steel
Jared Diamond
Not about WWII - instead about Pissarro's conquest of the Incas. A fantastic account of how technologies come to being and their evolution and implications. Chapter 13 is the best writing on technology I have ever read.(longish read) Certainly read this if you work with technology.

Leave a comment of there is something you think I should read.