Picturing the Great Migration

This design essay is about the creation of two graphics for the October issue of Significance. You can read the original article and get lost in giant versions of both graphics here.
This design essay is about the creation of two graphics for the October issue of Significance. You can read the original article and get lost in giant versions of both graphics here.
It may not be immediately obvious, but the image to the left represents part of the 2001 hit single, “Can’t get you out of my head”, by the Australian singer Kylie Minogue. If you know the song and its lyrics, you might be able to figure out what you are seeing. If you don’t, we’ll explain.
In our October 2017 issue, RJ Andrews and Howard Wainer imagine a collaboration between two data-storytellers of the past, W. E. B. Du Bois and C. J. Minard. The result of this gedanken-collaboration is a series of maps charting the relocation of African-Americans from the southern United States in the century after their emancipation from slavery.
Have you ever thought to yourself, “I’ll bet that’s true,” before you had all the facts? Most people probably have at some point. Where people differ is in how often they do so.
Fifteen years ago, Steve Jobs introduced the iPod. Since then, most music fans have understood this has radically changed how they listen to music. Less understood are the ways that raw information – accumulated via downloads, apps and online searches – is influencing not only what songs are marketed and sold, but which songs become hits.