Timeplots seems determined to pack as many dimensions of information as they can into their posters, which is not surprising considering that the co-founder, Nathaniel Pearlman, is a student and disciple of Edward Tufte. I think it is a safe bet that this is the single most informative poster on U.S. presidents ever made. Whereas a normal poster might present a photo and brief bio of each president, this poster shows you Senate and House situation, popularity, Supreme Court influence, Cabinet additions (or subtractions), inflation, GDP growth, unemployment, budget revenue and outlays as a percentage of GDP, presidents' background and qualifications, rank (as determined by various historians), electoral voting, population, real GDP, and partisan swings -- and most impressively it presents these data in an easily digestible manner. This is a wonderful resource for all U.S. History geeks and all infographic nerds.
One could peruse the poster for hours, and after a ~20 minute study, here are some of my observations:
- I did not realize the Democratic Party had such dominance over both the House and Senate from the early 1930s to the mid 1990s.
- It's interesting to see the presidents' influence on the Supreme Court -- FDR had a huge influence while Carter had none.
- Nixon over McGovern and Reagan over Mondale were dominant victories, with each only losing one state.
- The most disturbing fact to me is not the exploding size of the budget deficit but the exploding size of the Cabinet.
- The president with the most diverse set of qualifications = James Monroe. Runner-up = Martin Van Buren? Least qualified = Grover Cleveland.
- The presidents' popularity is all over the map. Two interesting patterns, however: Clinton had a slight but steady increase in popularity, while G.W. Bush had a precipitous and steady decline.
- The economy appears to be considerably less spiky since the 1950s.
- The Great Depression was Bad. To even suggest a comparison of the current economic situation to the Great Depression (I'm looking at you, Taleb) is at best vastly overestimating the current problem and at worst fear mongering.
I commend Timeplots for another fantastic piece of work, and I very much look forward to their next projects. From a Q&A on Cool Infographics, Nathaniel says that their list of ideas has already swelled to fifty or sixty.
Also of interest from the same Q&A, Nathaniel had this to say about the business of infographic posters:
I am enjoying Timeplots. As a profit-generating business, it is not for the faint-of-heart. I am lucky to have some time and space to try it, but it is unlikely to run in the black for quite some time. My first company, NGP Software, Inc. (www.ngpsoftware.com) is doing well and allows me to do this on the side.
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My review of their first poster: A Visual History of the Supreme Court of the United States
