By visualizing information, we turn it into a landscape that you can explore with your eyes, a sort of information map. And when you’re lost in information, an information map is kind of useful.

David McCandless, a British data journalist and founder of Information Is Beautiful, is known for arguing that well-designed infographics can make complex subjects graspable at a glance. This remark aligns with his public talks and writing from the late 2000s–early 2010s, when “data visualization” was gaining mainstream attention as a response to information overload on the web. In that setting, McCandless often framed visualization as a navigational aid: by arranging facts spatially, designers give viewers an overview, reveal patterns, and help them orient themselves amid competing claims, statistics, and headlines.

McCandless treats information not as a linear stream of text but as terrain. Visualization, in his view, converts abstract data into a “landscape” with landmarks—clusters, outliers, gradients, and relationships—that the eye can scan and compare quickly. The metaphor of an “information map” emphasizes orientation: maps do not replace the world, but they help you decide where you are, what matters, and where to go next. Implicitly, the quote also argues for the ethical and cognitive value of good design: when people feel “lost” in data, clarity of structure can be as important as the data itself.