Ivan Petrovich Ivanitsky (1896-1970) was a Soviet graphic designer and
infographics
Infographics (a clipped compound of "information" and "graphics") are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly.Doug Newsom and Jim Haynes (2004). ''Public Relations Wr ...
pioneer.
Ivanitsky was drafted into the
Russian Imperial Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian A ...
in 1915. He was wounded during the war receiving a wound in his right hand. For the rest of his life he was left-handed. By 1920 he had settled in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
where he worked for the publishing house Начатки знаний (Beginnings of Knowledge), a cultural and educational partnership that produced educational material concerning the natural sciences and children's literature. Here he worked on graphical charts and desktop
games.
In 1930 he started work with Ленизогиза (Lenizogiz), where he headed the department dealing with graphical statistics, and was responsible for the preparation and processing of graphic material. In this role he was assisted by
Otto Neurath
Otto Karl Wilhelm Neurath (; 10 December 1882 – 22 December 1945) was an Austrian-born philosopher of science, sociologist, and political economist. He was also the inventor of the ISOTYPE method of pictorial statistics and an innovator in mu ...
who served as his art director.
In 1931 he published ''Догнать и перегнать в техникоэкономическом отношении передовые капиталистические страны в 10 лет'' (Catch up and overtake technically and economically advanced capitalist countries in 10 years) where he provided a theoretical elaboration of own method of
graphical statistics
Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture, ...
.
In November 1931 he was seconded to
IZOSTAT IZOSTAT (ИЗОСТАТ) ( rus, Всесоюзный институт изобразительной статистики советского строительства и хозяйства) was the "All-union Institute of Pictorial Statistics o ...
where he studied the graphic methods of
the Vienna Method. In 1932 he published ''Изобразительная статистика и венский метод'' (Figurative Statistics and the Vienna Method), where he attempts to develop a new approach to isostatistics, which involved using linear strip charts to be compared in length. He also explained how the vienna method was based on figurative techniques developed by
Willard C. Brinton Willard Cope Brinton (December 22, 1880 – November 29, 1957''Mechanical Engineering,'' Vol. 80, 1958. p. 158) was an American consulting engineer, president of Brinton Associates, and information visualisation pioneer, particularly known for publi ...
in the US and how he proposed that IZOSTAT would develop these methods further.
References
1896 births
1970 deaths
Russian graphic designers
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