Some observations on the design of William Playfair's line graphics

The work of William Playfair, who is often landed as an originator of most modern-day graphic methods, has received very Utile systematic scrutiny and analysis. Playfair made his graphic debut with the publication in 1786 of The commercial and political atlas; this cycled through several editions and permutations* With one or two exceptions, Play f air's second major graphic contribution was A letter on our agricultural distresses, their causes and remedies of 1821, While Playfak has been credited with having 'invented' bar, circle and pie graphics, it was ime graphics he favoured most and used most frequently This paper contains some observations on the evolution of his approach to the design of line graphics; it examines some of the pitfalls of this approach. His astute insight into the value of the graphic method is most noteworthy and is also examined in this paper.