BC Budget Visualizations

October 14th, 2009

Design: Jer Thorp
Client:
Date: 2009

The Government of BC recently announced sweeping cuts to arts and culture programs throughout the province. These cuts fly in the face of pre-election messaging from the party, as well as ignoring a study the government itself commissioned finding that for every $1 invested in arts and culture, the government would see a return of $1.38 in tax revenue. (via Spencer Herbert).

What makes these cuts most significant is how out of sync they are with other line items from the Government’s September Budget Update. A fact that isn’t remotely apparent when wading through the densely opaque numbers provided by the Government.

Jer Thorp has made a name for himself exploring and expressing complex systems and datasets, and in his recent BC Budget Visualization has done an incredible job of providing both context and commentary on what these cuts mean, and why they don’t make sense.

I highly recommend reading through the entirety of Thorp’s blprnt.blg (as I recently did) to get a sense of just how powerful a tool Information Design (and design in general) can be for decoding and contextualizing the world around us.

-John Ryan

Entry Filed under: Graphics