ILLUSTRATING POLITICS:
Beyond the clichés
John Parkinson, Associate Professor of Public Policy
The situation
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Politics textbooks, websites, lecture slides, brochures
and banners all with the same visual material
... showing a limited idea of “politics”
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Legislatures
Guns
Globes
But politics is more than that
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Power and influence
Institutions, networks,
governance,
governmentality
Ideas, norms, values,
beliefs
Macro politicaleconomic structures
and discourses
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We undermine this
broad conception by
the limited visual
cues we send
Problem:
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How do we illustrate
ideas like:
governance
discourse
power
without resorting to
clichés or dull, lifeless
images?
Painting
Pros
 Artists often already thinking in conceptual terms
 Some good digital libraries online (eg, the Tate)
Cons
 Need to pay for the rights
 and
prices vary enormously
“Deliberation”
The Discussion (1959-60)
by Renato Guttuso
© DACS 2006; photo © Tate London 2005.
“Public space”
Alcañiz (1961) by
Tristram Hillier
© Estate of Tristram Hillier 2010; photo ©
Tate London 2010.

Hard to get it just right
 Only
one person here
 Illustrates “space”...
 ...but not “public” so well
Tips for using paintings
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Go modern
classical portraits and landscapes
don’t stand out
 less likely to get budget
approved

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Go for obscure artists rather
than household names

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more affordable!
Secure worldwide, all-format
rights

costs a little more, but worth it
Photography

Pros
Commission shots to get exactly what you want
 Lots of downloadable sources

some with free licenses
 eg, Creative Commons (Wikimedia); Flickr

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Cons

Free shots variable quality
not well-composed
 not well-lit or well-exposed
 poor resolution
 not attempting to illustrate a concept

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Professional work can be expensive (eg, Getty Images)
“Control”
Barricades at Union Square, San Francisco
© BrokenSphere / Wikimedia Commons
Surveillance cameras, Singapore. Photo by ‘Isderion’,
licensed by Creative Commons 3.0
“Sharing space”
Mission district, San Francisco. Photo ©
Jack Simon, by permission.
‘Ricoloop’ at the Bern Street Music Festival
2007. Photo Philipp Zinniker, licensed by
Creative Commons.
Photography tips
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It is not just about
recording an event,
it is illustrating an idea
Avoid “grip and grin”
Pay a photographer
who understands
lighting, composition,
focus (!), etc
Give a sense of place,
not just talking heads
US Department of the Army award
ceremony. Photo public domain.
Other approaches
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Cartoons
Abstract graphics
Textual design
Graphs
Graph of the destruction of Napoleon’s Grande Armée
It takes time
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What slows you down
 Permissions
- essential and often overlooked...
 but in my experience, very often granted
 Online archive searching
 pictures

rarely categorized according to our categories
But it is worth it
 more
effective communication of what we do
 better sales!
Further reading

Edward Tufte
 Beautiful
Evidence (2006)
 The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (2001)
 Envisioning Information (1991)