On cartoons and info design, part two
Scott Bateman charts, measures, graphs, plots and cartoons in his fabulous new graphic-novel-type book thingie Scan

It occurred to me after writing the post about Ted Rall and Ruben Bolling's use of pictograms that I said I'd review political cartoonist Scott Bateman's book Scan here and never actually did. Now seems as good a time as any, as I'm about to embark on my own information graphics adventure as an intern at the Wall Street Journal.

But my guess is the stock charts I'll be making won't resemble anything in Scott's book. Rather than narrate or draw the action, he filters the story of mysteriously appearing SCAN graffiti through popularity ratings, sales figures, bulleted lists, grade point averages, MRI scans, lie detector test results, and body odor indexes. I find the whole effect hard to describe in words, which is, perhaps, part of the point--I doubt anyone could achieve the same effect through conventional words or pictures alone. You can read more about the book in this review or at Scott's website (and while you're there, you should check out his hilarious sketchbook, and, of course, his blog).