The Truthful Art ― Data, Charts, and Maps for Communication

The Truthful Art is an introduction to quantitative thinking and statistical and cartographical representation written specifically for journalists and designers. A follow-up toThe Functional Art, it goes into the specifics of how to create functional charts, maps, and graphs.

Part 1 in The Truthful Art provides a broad introduction to statistics, written with journalists and designers in mind. Cairo avoids using jargon and formulas, focusing instead on how to manage and interpret data sets, and how to extract stories from them.

In Part 2, Cairo gets down to business giving specific advice on how to use charts and maps in infographics and visualization. Readers will learn what kind of statistical charts exist and how to use them correctly; what maps are with an introduction to cartography terms and techniques; the basics of maps including how to create locator maps and how to understand basic cartographical terms such as projection, scale, symbolization, etc.; and the main kinds of thematic maps (choropleth, isopleth, proportional symbol, etc.) and how to use them.

In Part 3, Cairo leaves the classroom and enters the real world with an in-depth look at how information graphics and visualization teams are organized at publications around the world including The New York Times, La Nacion (Costa Rica), Estado de Sao Paulo (Brazil), and more. He also explains how to develop a successful style book for graphics using sample pages from several real style books for examples.

Part 4, the last section of the book, features interviews with six to 10 leading designers of charts and maps including Jer Thorp, Amanda Cox, Ben Fry, and more.

Alberto Cairo (Miami, FL) teaches Information Graphics and Visualization at the School of Communication at the University of Miami since January 2012. He holds a BA in Journalism (University of Santiago de Compostela) and a research-oriented Masters degree on Information Society Studies from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Barcelona). He teaches courses on information graphics and visualization, and is interested in the convergence between Visual Communication, Journalism, and Cognitive Science.

He is author of the books Infografia 2.0: Visualizacion interactiva de informacion en prensa (Alamut, Spain, 2008) and The Functional Art: an Introduction to Information Graphics and Visualization, published by Peachpit Press, a division of Pearson Education, in August 2012.

He also writes regularly for El Pais, the main newspaper in Spain, in a blog on the future of Journalism, Periodismo con futuro.

Between June 2010 and December 2011, he was the director for Infographics and Multimedia at Editora Globo, the magazine division of the biggest media group in Brazil, where he acted as an executive editor for the weekly news magazine Epoca and as an internal consultant for the other 12 publications of the group.

He has also been an assistant professor at the School of Journalism, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, between 2005 and 2009. He was the James H. Schumaker Term Assistant Professor in 2008 and 2009.

Alberto Cairo led the creation of the Interactive Infographics Department at El Mundo (elmundo.es, Spain), in 2000. Cairo’s team won more Malofiej and Society for News Design (SND) infographics international awards than any other news organization worldwide between 2001 and 2005.

Cairo has been an invited lecturer and keynote speaker at all most influential international conferences on visual journalism and design. He has taught in the US, Mexico, El Salvador, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Spain, Portugal, France, Switzerland, Ukraine, Singapore, and South Korea. He has also been a consultant with many top news publications in those countries.