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Archive for August, 2009

Interview with Yingyan Huang

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Yingyan Huang, who created the two visualizations on the unity of Scripture from the last post, graciously agreed to answer a few questions for me about her work:

Where did you get the inspiration for your pieces? What was your motivation to create them?

Initially I had started with ideas of creating an information visualizations on Paul’s journeys and the spread of Christianity. As I explored the topic further, I realized that the focus, as a Christian, should not be on Paul but really on Christ Himself. Since the objective of Paul’s journeys and ministry was Christ. So I began exploring the Gospels and the role of Christ in the Bible. Ultimately my motivation is to visually demonstrate, given the Bible as a historical relic and literature, Christ’s centrality in the Bible and His reality because of the sheer number of references to Him found in the OT even before His birth.

What was the process you used to create them? Where did you get the data? What tools did you use?

My data was obtained through many reading and primarily comes from the Tyndale Life Application Study Bible, ESV Study Bible, and The Christ of the Covenants by O. Palmer Robertson. I cross referenced the passages from ESV’s history of salvation and Palmer’s book against the 250 events in the life of Christ from the Tyndale study bible. Some computer programs I used include Adobe Illustrator, Acrobat, and Microsoft Excel.

With infographics, there’s often a tension between making something attractive and clearly portraying the information you want to communicate. As a designer, how did you resolve that tension with these pieces?

As mentioned above, I basically cross-referenced the bible verses/passages to create data points. I did not create my own data, merely synthesized available data that have been around for centuries to create the data sets.

Why do graphic designers create infographics about the Bible?

Perhaps the Bible remains a choice subject matter because it is rich with intricacies and complexities that come together so harmoniously.

What are you up to these days?

I am currently interning/working at a magazine as a art/photo assistant and assisting in teaching an information design class at Parsons. I am also cooking and baking to test and create recipes. Additionally I am involved in starting a new college ministry (City Campus Ministry) and a teaching assistant for the Children’s Ministry at my church, Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC.

Two Bible Visualizations on the Unity of Scripture

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

Yingyan Huang, a graphic designer, recently created two Bible visualizations that emphasize the unity of Scripture.

Harmony of the Gospels. The first visualization, “The Harmony of the Gospels—250 Events in the Life of Christ,” identifies 250 events recorded in the Gospels, arranges them chronologically, and plots them to reveal which events occurred in which Gospels. In effect, it’s a visualization of the Composite Gospel Index, though the visualization is apparently using a different data set.

A Single Story. The second visualization, “A Single Story—The Bible through the Lens of 250 Events,” starts with the same 250 events but extends references to them into the Old Testament and the remainder of the New Testament. This visualization shows the centrality of Christ in the Bible.

Both visualizations convey useful information. I wish they were available in larger sizes, but even the low-resolution versions give you a sense of the message behind the images.