Tufte shows his theory of Narrative of Space and Time in several ways. His theory is based upon providing the consumer with information on a two dimensional object, however with the perception of layers to provide information. Out of Tufte’s five main theories within envisioning information, this is the one which the passing on of information is the most important. Tufte shows in his examples, that graphs are one of the best ways to relay information across in a clear and concise way so that consumers can read, understand and implement the information they have just received. He also shows that maps too are incredibly useful for doing so. In the food industry, visual elements are often a priority, surprisingly however, not essential. In recipes, simply a line of text can still portray the information and gain the desired outcomes. Florence Le Ber et al. (2012) shows within this simple graph how to produce a fruit cake. The narrative is that of the production of the cake. Each separate ingredient is clearly boxed and the use of the arrows implies the progression of time.

This is an excerpt from the middle of a longer recipe in this second example, it looks a lot more complex, however the same basic plot can be followed.

In this third example, it utilises more of Tufte’s theories in a combination. This example is from a home magazine and states a list of vegetables, it allocates them a coloured block which indicates the length of time they need to be in the oven for in order to be properly cooked, varying from 15 to 90 minutes.

Bibliography

Dufour-Lussier, Valmi & Le Ber, Florence & Lieber, Jean & Meilender, Thomas & Nauer, Emmanuel. (2012). Semi-automatic annotation process for procedural texts: An application on cooking recipes..

Huffstetler, E. 2018. Vegetable Roasting times chart. My Frugal Home. Available online: https://www.myfrugalhome.com/vegetable-roasting-times-chart/ [Accessed 5/11/21]

Tufte, E. (1990). Envisioning information.