Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Effects Of Writing On Time-Related Information Graphics, Marilyn Mitchell

Marilyn Mitchell

Different cultures of the world write in different directions and these directions appear to have an impact on how time is represented in information graphics including timelines, tree diagrams, graphs, and process diagrams. People’s perception of the direction of time movement on the page reflects the direction in which they write. The research discusses why different cultures write in different directions, the asymmetrical relationship between the left and right sides of the page, boustrophedon (zigzag) patterns of graphics, the implications of perspective on information graphics, the placement of time along the vertical dimension, and the relationship between tense and time …