Chapter 4: Small Multiples

I thought this chapter on small multiples reinforced how powerful it is to be able to present information within the “eyespan”. The juxtaposition of those images allows us to draw comparisons and single out key differences at a glance. I really liked the train example and how Tufte described it as “a scope of alternatives” or “a range of options”. The example kind of reminded me of shopping catalogs or online stores where the products are placed next to each other so that you can decide on a design quickly.

I was expecting very data driven examples in this section (like the smog/air polution chart we had previously seen in chapter 1) so I was surprised by the example of Mural with a Blue Brushstroke which displayed the different inspiration images to parts of main painting. It feels different than the other examples of small multiples that are placed together to draw out comparisons between each other. In this example, it felt like the inspiration images were being connected only really to the main image which I thought was interesting.