Great post at 2 Blowhards: Michael, providing examples from the current AARP magazine issue, points out how graphic design has seriously messed up the mapping purpose of the Table of Contents.
We’ve become a visual society and have gone back to primary colors and images to tell us what we’re getting too busy to comprehend in text form. Or maybe they feel we’re bored too easily by black and white text giving simple directions and instead need the entertainment value of borders and boxes and drawings and photos and swirls and stars all arranged not by logical order, but by eye appeal.
Yep, graphics are great, but they can be the smoke and mirrors for what was once a great read.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology