Book on effectively making diagrams

Tinuz

I am looking for a book to help me get better at making diagrams. However, Amazon.com turns up little and a google search tends to drown on irrelevant links.

When I say diagrams, I do not mean things like flow charts, but a way to graphically convey a (rather abstract) concept. I.e things like this

Thanks!

Improvolone

I find that only some people who really understand a concept can break it down into a technical drawing such as that so that it makes sense to the general population. This comes from my experience with teaching science shows at a local museum. Some of the other actors just didn't understand what a good example was and some of the educational department just put too much information in there.

Are we strictly talking about science though? Because to me, an abstract concept is more like... love or fun.

Tinuz

Improvolone wrote: »

I find that only some people who really understand a concept can break it down into a technical drawing such as that so that it makes sense to the general population. This comes from my experience with teaching science shows at a local museum. Some of the other actors just didn't understand what a good example was and some of the educational department just put too much information in there.

Are we strictly talking about science though? Because to me, an abstract concept is more like... love or fun.

Good question. Mostly about science. When I say concept, I mean things like river flow modeling. There are many different methods of doing so, but I only want to explain the basic concept as a foundation for explaining those different methods.

Rhaven

There's a series of books by a guy named Edward Tufte that might be worth a look: http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/

I haven't read them but I understand they're all about the best way of presenting information graphically.

Tinuz

Rhaven wrote: »

There's a series of books by a guy named Edward Tufte that might be worth a look: http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/

I haven't read them but I understand they're all about the best way of presenting information graphically.

I just found them too, and ordered them. However, they seem to focus on quantitative information (which is what I do), I am looking mostly for something to convey concepts by means of graphics.

As a further example: this diagram does a good job of convey the entire concept of data assimilation....if you're trained in abstract thinking, know what you're looking at and take the time to examine it. That, in my opinion, makes it a mediocre diagram at best...a visual aid to memory, but not a tool for teaching. What I am looking for is a way to explain such things in an intuitive way. I.e. someone looks at it and is capable of understanding the basics without any help and 'in a single glance' (well, maybe a minute of careful observation).

I haven't read Tufte's books yet (I will) but it seems they do not treat this. Actually, it seems no one does. In my opinion this is strange, presenting to laypeople is impossible without the use of graphical aides.