Exactitude: Graphics

When I made an outline for each of the posts I was going to do from the Graphic Design book, I was sure I would use of the computer code entries to demonstrate my knowledge of Exactitude. I scanned the image in… uploaded it.. and then realized I needed to scrap it. The more I looked at the computer code, the more I realized that the image was too far to the side of “crystal” on the fire/crystal scale of vagueness and infinitely detailed. I’ve worked with computer code before so I know that even a single misplaced letter can ruin your entire program. It’s essential to be exact.

I had a really difficult time understanding Calvino’s quality of Exactitude. I think my biggest problem is that my immediate definition of exactitude is being precise or accurate; it was difficult for me to understand that there is such a thing as too much accuracy and not enough accuracy. In order to demonstrate this, I chose the Drawing with Code binary Tree entry:

Drawing with Code The drawings shown here were created with Processing, and open-source software application. The designs are built from a binary tree, a basic data structure in which each node spawns at most two offspring. Binary trees are used to organize information hierarchies, and they often take a graphical down. The density of the final drawing depends on the angle between the “children” and the number of generations. The larger design is created by repeating, rotating, inverting, connectinv, and overlapping the tree forms. In code-based drawing, the designer varies the results by changing the inputs to the algorithm.

I chose this specific image instead of other code based drawing because I think it shows the progression from too vague to too intricate. I arranged them so that they would be shown as a progression (sorry for the pixel noise). This excerpt shows that the drawing becomes more and more dense with each additional generation and that if the drawing continues, it can become very dense and overwhelming; just as Kahn was overwhelmed with the intricacies withing the small square of wood on his chess board.

Exactitude: Calvino’s Quality

For Exactitude Calvino started out by being unusually explicit. He gave a definition in the form of three bullet points:

• a well defined and well-calculated plan for the work in question;
• an evocation of clear, incisive, memorable visual images; in Ialian we have an adjective that doesn’t exist in English (iscastico)
• a language as precise as possible both in choice of words and in expression of the subtleties of thought and imagination

When Calvino began the memo, he explains that his intention was to explain his fondness for numerical series and exactness in symmetries and measure; then he realized that this evokes the idea of the infinite and he got sidetracked writing about the cosmos. He also talks about the issues he encounters in writing. He often tries to be exact and to limit the field of what he is talking about, but then gets drawn into the infinitesimal details and is lost in the vastness.

The best example for this that is given in the reading is the anecdote from his own book, Invisible Cities. In this story, a man named Kublai Khan is playing chess with Marco Polo. Khan is a man who personifies the intellectual tendency toward rationalization, geometry, and algebra. he also considers himself to be a master of chess. He beats Marco Polo and feels confidence in himself because he has mastered this sphere. But with further contemplation Khan feels silly because after all the thought that went into the chess match, he has only won the small square of wood that named him the victor.

However, Marco Polo instructs Khan to look more closely and see the more specific elements of the very small square of wood: the type of wood (ebony or maple), the markings and gouges in the wood, where the wood came from, etc. Khan quickly becomes overwhelmed and is drawn into the infinitesimal.

In order to represent these two concepts (the abstract and the infinite) he uses the symbols of fire and a crystal:

Fire represents the abstract; order out of noise. On the other side of Exactitude, he presents the crystal.

The crystal is representative of a self-organizing system. It is infinitely complex and varied. Calvino believes that both of these forms are representations of perfect beauty. The objective is to find a balance between the two. In order to strive for this balance we need to avoid language that is random, approximate, and careless. We need to use words to their best effect and understand that being concise does not mean that you are being precise.

In retrospect I think that the libra scales would be a good example of Exactitude because it’s a balancing act between two opposing sides.