Jonathan Jarvis and The New Mediators


Building on the success of his incredibly lucid and educational animation, “The Crisis of Credit Visualized,” designer/animator Jonathan Jarvis announced an interesting new venture, The New Mediators, which launched in earnest a few months ago.

To quote the introductory video above, The New Mediators builds diagrams using a “design language that can be assembled quickly, almost in real-time, and universal enough to be adapted.”

What Jarvis is proposing goes beyond motion graphics into the fields of journalism, education and activism (though he doesn’t seem to actively acknowledge that last one). Unlike visual essays, which use metaphor to suggest multiple layers of meaning at once, Jarvis is interested instead in simplifying and demystifying our complex world.

This is the general aim of information graphics and in itself is nothing new, but Jarvis’ real-time twist points to an exciting array of possibilities that are only now being tapped.  Before I go on, take a moment to watch Jarvis deconstructing Obama’s stimulus package before a live audience:


Finally, all those touchscreen doohickeys that cable news networks have been stockpiling can be put to good use! Imagine real-time diagrams to explain things like tax bills, health care reform or even the socio-political histories of warring nations.

There are two prerequisites for such a communicative model to work in practice, though:

1. The designer must have an exceptionally clear understanding of the subject matter. In natural speech, we can can afford to be sloppy. Our languages have a built-in allowance for mistakes and vagueness which is typically compensated for by simply increasing the amount of talking we do about a given subject. Eventually, with enough clarification and circumscription, everyone will understand what we’re saying, more or less.

Design languages are much less forgiving. Put a symbol in the wrong place or draw an arrow in the wrong direction, and you could fundamentally alter the truth of a diagram. An unclear hierarchy of visual elements could even be life-threatening. Just ask Edward Tufte.

2. The designer must be aware of the passage of time. This might sound so obvious that it verges on idiotic, but this is the real magic behind Jarvis’ approach. A static diagram can be extremely useful, but a diagram being constructed or manipulated before our eyes has the potential of creating deep insight.

Don’t believe me? Watch Hans Rosling’s TED talk for an excellent explanation:


The fourth dimension allows us to see information in ways that simply aren’t possible otherwise. In the case of Jarvis’ performative take on information graphics, the act of building a graph is itself the time-based device that gives us insight.

It’s not an easy thing to master, and Jarvis is unique in his innate understanding of human perception as it relates to comprehension.

The New Mediators is as exciting as it is vital to our future understanding of a world that is only increasing in complexity. Whatever happens next, I hope Jarvis and others like him are there to explain it to me.

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About the author

Justin Cone

/ justincone.com
Together with Carlos El Asmar, Justin co-founded Motionographer, F5 and The Motion Awards. He currently lives in Austin, Texas with is wife, son and fluffball of a dog. Before taking on Motionographer full-time, Justin worked in various capacities at Psyop, NBC-Universal, Apple, Adobe and SCAD.

4 Comments

BrandonLori

This is a fascinating little social experiment on the idea of a “mediator,” and on a humorous note, is like Power Point™ on steroids!

But in all seriousness, I see a lot of promise for this sort of idea in the blogosphere, and live performance venues (as the website indicates). Naturally, it has this kind of plasma-screen street visage quality that makes it attractive to youth, guerilla media, or any digital counter-culture looking to subvert something.

However, regardless of the novel conceptual grounds it stands on, this isn’t all that different from what Jeff Han and his “Magic Wall,” did for for CNN. At least from a technical standpoint, Hans system functions similarly, and in real-time too, where many of us already get our election results, or even the weather, for that matter. I do understand the motivation behind The New Mediators is a bit more “alternative,” but still.

Props to you for trying some new shit though!

(https://www.perceptivepixel.com/).

id8

this guy is brilliant

Corbs

Jonathan Jarvis is clearly a great thinker in this field.

Information Graphics and theories are on the cusp of a massive transformation. Motion studios are waking up to the huge influence “visual essays” have on their audience. Using traditional information design theorems delivered in a short narrative is bridging a gap to the “YouTube” generation and is extremely encouraging for social justice advocates.

I run a start-up non-profit studio in Vancouver, Canada called “Thought Bubble”. We create motion graphic shorts to explain and deliver messages for NGOs, other not-for-profits and charities, politicians, great thinkers, writers, and anyone else who has an important message or concept to share with the world.

Check out http://www.thoughtbubble.org

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