same difference: on red and green colour blindness

i’m currently taking a visualisation course in Python and it has reminded me of red and green colour blindness: both hues appear similar to them.

while they are still granted driver’s licenses as a “strong” convention for traffic lights exist, the position and not just the colour convey information.

this made me think of truly inclusive designs: where a “best effort” is placed that a design is accessible by default (or a “reasonable” alternative or accomodation is provided). this is “good” to know since coming up with a “universal” design can be “problematic” (as more effort can be required) but in media without guidelines this can invaluable.

lies, damn lies, and statistics: on “deceit” with Information Graphics

i was so hung up on words that i “overlooked” visualisations can deceive audiences. i’ve been recently exposed to the works of Edward Tufte and Alberto Cairo on Information Graphics (commonly known by its portmanteau, Infographics). Aside from the important role it can play in emphasising statistics, it also has the power to mislead “consumers” of the information (whether intentional or not). The main point is that they need to be designed carefully and not simply thrown in to break the “monotony” of words or “pretty” things up – they must only be included to serve a particular purpose.

here are a few guidelines to help make the figure you generate “better”:

https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003833