The (graphically) pleasing new cabinet of Merkel

In these hours, more and more names of the new German government get known. Time to present the vita of the established and probable ministers in a graphic - done so on the website of the German weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT. The different phases in the careers of the politicians are depicted in timelines, divided by the use of colours. This abstract graphic relinquishes any decoration and has a very simple, white background. Moving the mouse over the timelines invokes a pop-up with more detailled, partially redundant information of the politicians. This "outsourcing" of data in pop-ups ensures the graphic appears not too dense, but rather clear. The multiple dimensions of information are additionally grouped in several tabs, which is a usefool tool, but uses further redundancy because of the repeating timelines.

Graphic source:http://interactive.zeit.de/bundeskabinett/#/merkel-iii/0

Life of Brian, pardon, Ludwig

This information graphic is a homage to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. And at least as long as his famous Seagram Building, so i had to split it in two parts. It informs about his life and his contribution to a new approach of architecture, the New Objectivity. It was introduced in the 20's in Germany. As a symbolic change, artists seeked clear forms after the playful period of Jugendstil, dated before the First World War. 

So it is self-evident the infographic gathers the values of simplicity. Furthermore, it reminds of an American 50's adverisement - the main period of van der Rohe's producing.  This manner of designing graphic seems to be quite popular in the last years, so it can't described as innovative.

It uses big shapes, easy to identify, such as van der Rohe taking his famous position, smoking a cigar. The background is held very clearly and lightly. There only a few colours used. Similarly, information is well organized in a time-line using icons to illustrate the personality’s life-stations. Important facts are emphasized bold, and the different colors of typography raise the readability. The graphic does without much decoration. However, it exhibits a few redundancy. Thus some of the depictions of the buildings he created are shown twice. The content quite unidimensional, only dealing with his architectural producing. So it does not need a high effort to understand the graphic, but surely it demands some interest for the topic. 

Graphic source: http://www.archdaily.com/220679/infographic-celebrating-mies-van-der-rohe/