A Visual Journal
By Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec
Published by Princeton Architectural Press ISBN 978-1-61689-714-7
Reviewed by Louise Date
Observe Collect Draw! is a visual journal getting to the core of self-examination. Every page is a different activity for looking at one’s day to day life, collecting the data from it, and using it to create a set of uniquely personal and specific infographics.
Having experimented with several of the activities in the book, it is evident that whilst the data is obviously very personal, the format of the results are clearly there to be seen, and they have been cleverly designed to create beautiful results. Many of the activities are based on examining the inner workings of the personality – and it’s telling what springs up from the numbers. The test on friend’s birthdays was affirming, the ‘what I eat’ activity downright scary (especially performed in the Christmas run up) and ‘an ode to the one I love’ has the potential to be a very beautiful way of establishing one’s own feelings. What is created is a breakdown of a human character, flaws and all.
The team behind this, Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec have previously collaborated together on Dear Data, and seek to inspire the reader into using one’s personal data in order to develop creativity and to better connect with oneself. Lupi is an information designer, and artist and Posavec is an artist who focuses on representations of data, and the two together have created an engaging and accessible book that sucks you in whether you like it or not. As an invitation to creativity, this is as good as any.
