5 Diagrams

"Wasp preys on emerald ash borer larvae," Minneapolis Star Tribune, Sept. 22, 2010.

This diagram tells the reader what the problem is and one solution that is being tested. I think all the words overwhelm the diagram but they are necessary because the diagram alone would not tell the full story. The numbers help guide the reader through the diagram. Also, I think the illustration of the ash tree is weak. The reader has to find the label that says "Ash bark" to understand that the gray stripe is bark. The general label and description of the living wood is the only thing that tips the reader off that that is wood. I think a strong element of this diagram is the real-life photo of what the wood looks like after the larvae eats it. I think it needs a label so that someone unfamiliar with trees would not have to guess what it is. This diagram could be made interactive by having the reader click on the wasp to start the process and having an explanation pop up. By clicking on the wasp again, the next step and explanation would appear, and so on and so forth. If that change was made, the diagram would become an animation, not a diagram.



"The Secrets of a Passive House," New York Times, Sept. 25, 2010.

This is a strong diagram because of all the different elements it shows. It focuses on the heating and cooling of the house. It could have made this graphic very detailed and confused. Instead, the diagram is made stronger because it gives the main components of a "passive house." By showing close-ups of parts of the house, it lets the reader know what they are looking at, where it is located, and how it works. This would have been difficult to make the diagram interactive. One way to do with would have been to make a "hot spot" where each of the close-ups are so the reader could click on that, and then have the explanation pop up. This diagrams stands alone well because of the way the information is explained.



"Arch Staining," St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

This graphic stands alone and explains the staining that is happening to the St. Louis Arch. this graphic is strong because the colors are variety enough that it is easy to tell the difference in the degrees of severity. Also, the larger image lets the reader get a closer look at the staining while the smaller image shows what is happening to the other side. This is a good idea because the Arch is a 3D object so one image is not going to be descriptive enough. I think it would be difficult to make this graphic interactive.



"Rain, sun spawn nature's artwork," USA TODAY.

This is a strong interactive graphic, although I could not get more than one image of it. When the reader puts their cursor over the image of the cloud on the left, a rainbow appears. When the cursor is scrolls over the image on the right, a beam of light is shined into the water droplet which emits a rainbow out the other side. The information on the right of the images also changes. This graphic explains how a rainbow is made. The interactivity makes the process understandable to a reader who has not studied rainbows before. If this graphic had been larger, it would have been stronger. This graphic can almost stand alone. Part of the article explains that a person needs to have the sun behind them to see the rainbow. This is not totally explained in the graphic, but could be if the design had made that evident.

"MU football lineup v. Miami of Ohio," Columbia Missourian, Sept. 24, 2010.

This is a well-made graphic because of the amount of information included in it. I like that it shows how the players line up by position and saying who plays that position for the team and their number. It's nice that the reader doesn't have to refer to a player roster to find out who plays that position. The colors work well here because they correspond with the team colors and are easily distinguishable. The key for offense and defense is nice because it explains the abbreviations. This diagram could have been made interactive if the reader could scroll over the name of the player and their picture would pop up. This graphic stands alone well.