Visualizing the Portuguese Empire expansion and decline

Authors

Abstract

This paper describes a project that aims to visualize the expansion and decline of the Portuguese Empire. Two distinct forms of visualization were produced, one relating to the expansion and the other to the decline. The first makes use of The Lusiads to extract a general tone for the Portuguese achievements. A series of images were produced displaying the analysis. The second visualization is an animated sequence that displays the evolution of the British, French, Spanish and Portuguese empires during the XIX and XX centuries. An animated sequence produced in this context was able to get more than 340 000 views, traducing its viral nature. In this work, great care was given to the aesthetics and design of the visual output from the visualizations. Some design options are stated. Finally, other forms of visualization that merge the previous ones are discussed as a natural evolution for this ongoing project.

Keywords

Digital narrative, Education, Information design, Information visualization, Portuguese history

Subject

Creative Design

Conference

International Conference on Digital Arts - ARTECH, April 2010