It turns out that this striking visualization of the differences between the political left and right that I had admired and saved to enjoysthin.gs is also the work of Stefanie Posavec, the designer at Penguin responsible for the Great Stars series.
I know this because her name is on the chart, and she’s clearly credited at Information is Beautiful where I saw the chart. And also because, after I had missed these telltale signs, Stefanie told me it was her.
Here are a few details, but you should just go and look at the whole glorious spread.
To my mind, as well as being extremely visually elegant, it’s an intelligent attempt to simplify some very complicated (perceived) distinctions. Yes it’s reductive and doubtless deals in generalisations, but for a single image and no more than a few hundred words of copy, it’s a provocative and honest effort. But, this being the internet, there are commenters decrying it for being insultingly left-centric, seeing it as a sinister plot to confound more nuanced debate, and plenty who want it to be something it isn’t.
No it doesn’t accurately represent the whole spectrum of political thought. Did you really think it could?
It’s taken from David McCandless’s upcoming book The Visual Miscellaneum, so look out for that.
