Elyscia Saint-Hilaire and I reviewed a groundbreaking multimedia object from French civil engineer Charles Minard on Wednesday. The object was an information graphic depicting France’s 1812 invasion into Russia, a campaign that failed miserably for French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte and his troops. The death totals on the graphic were staggering. Bonaparte started with 422,000 soldiers, but over 300,000 died before reaching Moscow; only 10,000 survived the trip back to France.
Minard’s graphic is extremely efficient in that the entire campaign’s database — numbers representing French casualties, temperature, location and time — is accessible on a one-page timeline. During that era, such information was only found in books and other less compact mediums. The ability to empirically see how catastrophic the Russia invasion was for France in a matter of minutes was unheard of at the time. There’s no question Minard’s work helped pave the way for many of the graphics common in data storytelling today.
By new media theorist Lev Manovich’s definition, it’s clear Minard’s graphic is a multimedia object because users can access a complete database and narrative directly on an easy-to-navigate interface. However, the most interesting component of Minard’s graphic is that the narrative is weaved together through an algorithm. It’s often difficult to let raw data tell a story; Minard managed to do so by plotting the French army’s casualties by width. The timeline started with a thick line representing French troops, and as users follow it from left to right — the informal algorithm of timelines — their numbers whittle down to almost nothing, the line barely visible. The French army’s rapid progression from strength to despair perfectly illustrated the downfalls of military hubris, the graphic’s gripping narrative. Minard laid out his entire database on one page so users wouldn’t need to access any underlying information, making an expansive interface unnecessary; it’s simply data spread across a map for users to access.
Minard’s graphic resonated with me because it merged traditionally opposing style and form design dimensions. For style, Minard’s numbers were literal and nonfictional; but the data representations were designed in a poetic manner, though, conveying emotion like a fable. Minard’s choice of a timeline also allowed him to turn static numbers into a dynamic story experience. Users follow the French campaign into Russia from start to finish, seeing its army fall apart as the months passed. Minard’s ability to blend design dimensions made his graphic even more captivating.
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