Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Tufte- Escaping Flatland

While reading the Edward Tufte piece, “Escaping Flatland”, I had several insights on what 2-D represents to the viewer, how it is limited, and how it benefits society.
I believe that two dimensional images are limited because communication between the readers of an image and the makers of an image takes place on a 2-D surface, though we as people live our lives through 3-D. This means that within every flatland there will be a limit in dimensional capacity. While looking at an image, the viewer cannot look at the whole.
            Though two definitional images are limited, image has allowed the most complex objects to be tangible to the average being. This has helped society develop, gain facts, and obtain knowledge regarding the world around them.
For instance, the mapping of sunspot distribution, the modern butterfly diagram, or maps of the solar system has allowed the average being to be more knowledgeable regarding an abstract idea. Image can make something complex more understandable. Simple designs further the knowledge of ideas, and allow them to be more straight forward.
In conclusion, though two-dimensional image is limited in certain aspects, societies knowledge of the world continues to grow. Just because a picture’s perspective may have a capacity, knowledge for the world around us does not.

            

No comments:

Post a Comment