A fascinating account of the early development of the infographic

At the beginning of the 20th century, an unprecedented volume of information began circulating in the mass media, calling for the development of new visualization tactics to organize it all. The abundance of news and information required new forms of representation that would allow readers to glean a quick understanding of complex circumstances at a glance; the infographic was born.

Image Factories is dedicated to the pioneering infographics of Austrian physician and illustrator Fritz Kahn (1888-1968) and German philosopher Otto Neurath (1882-1945), who both worked with graphic designers to realize their groundbreaking information visualizations. Presenting historical material and imagery designed between 1920 and 1945 alongside contemporary infographics, with a series of essays by Helena Doudova, Stephanie Jacobs, Patrick Roessler, Bernd Stiegler, Vilem Flusser and Otto Neurath, Image Factories offers a fascinating account of the early development of the infographic.