To diagram is to ‘mark out by lines:’ to represent interrelationships in graphic form, to illustrate the workings of something, or to create a drawing that aids in the proof of a proposition.
A diagram can function on several scales – it can be an overall graphic –or it can be the detailed workings. Sometimes the most powerful diagrams function on both these scales and some in between. Diagrams frequently are thought of as reductions, simplifications, in order to be clear. They can also be rich with information and require a specialized knowledge or language to decipher.
The aim of this Diagram is two-fold: to assay or to test a range of methods and to tease out or to construct latent connections by putting down ideas in graphic form. Diagramming can include the use of drawing, charting, listing, graphing, painting, collaging or any other visual means to investigate the conceptual and formal potential of your subject in two-dimensions. Consider the constraints, parameters, and variables in making your Diagram.
1. Choose a system and diagram it.
System examples:
Infrastructure – for example -- how water gets to your house
Social – your family, your school,
Political – the electoral college, capitalism, democratic socialism, dictatorships
Resources – the timber harvest, the aluminum mining, salmon catch
Food – local vs global
More…
2. Redraw your diagram and simplify it -- how simple can it get and still describe your system?
3. Redraw your original diagram and add more layers of information. What do you gain?
4. Translate your diagram into another medium.
5. Post documentation of your diagrams on the blog. Email me if you have lost your invitation.
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