Isotype of the conquest

Abstract

This article introduces the Codices of The School of Huejotzingo as early examples of data visualization from sixteenth-century colonial México. The glyphs in the Codices and the technique of repetition are used to represent quantities. A similar approach was introduced four hundred years later in 1930s Vienna that would become known as Isotype. Similar to the Codices, Isotype used pictograms and repetition to represent quantities. A set of principles were established to design Isotype charts that were engaging and memorable. The Codices are analyzed using the principles of Isotype to contextualize and introduce them into the data visualization timeline.