Fall Colors

This interactive graphic, “Fall Colors Depend on Weather Changes,” ran on USA Today’s web site. Credit for the graphic goes to Suzy Parker and Bob Swanson of USA Today.

One of the things I like about this graphic is that I can see all the information without having to click and navigate my way around several windows. All the information appears just by hovering my mouse over a particular word or image. This makes the interactive graphic much easier to navigate and more user-friendly.

One of the weaknesses of the piece was the accuracy of the colors used to portray the fall leaves. While I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a Dogwood tree in the fall, I have a hard time believing they turn a true blue/purple like the web colors shown. I know Oak trees don’t turn a true red that’s shown here. I don’t know much about colors on the web, but if they could make such a true and accurate green for the main leaves in the graphic, I would think they could make true and accurate fall colors as well.

Another weakness of the graphic is that it doesn’t really convey the information it’s trying to in the graphic. When I read the graphic headline, “Fall Colors Depend on Weather Changes,” I expect to find out how weather affects the colors. After reading the information two or three times, I finally found where they tried to explain it. The small text in “Early Fall” says, “With water and minerals cut off, leaves stop making green chlorophyll.” I know that green chlorophyll and photosynthesis is what makes leaves green, so I could make sense of this. I don’t think the graphic did a very good job of explaining the complicated process in laymen’s terms. And nowhere in the graphic did it explain why, how or when the water and minerals were “cut off.”

While the image of the cross section of a leaf impressed me, it didn’t really convey any useful information to help me understand. The entire graphic was pretty and colorful, and I enjoyed watching the leaves change colors as I moved my mouse around; however, most of the graphic was chart junk in that it was aesthetically pleasing but not very helpful.

I found the graphic interesting because I liked seeing which kind of trees turned which colors. As we’re preparing to build a new house, I keep thinking about which trees I will want in my new yard, so it was fun to look at fall colors.

However, most of this graphic contains information that most students learn in grade school. It’s pretty and fun, but not helpful or informational, especially since it didn’t mention the weather anywhere other than the headline.