Jacques Bertin,from classical training to systematic thinking of graphic signs

ABSTRACT

Nearly 50 years after the publication of the first French edition of Sémiologie Graphique, Jacques Bertin’s thought is more than ever alive, in cartography as well as in various other disciplines, such as graphic design or visual data analysis. This article recalls the main elements of Bertin’s career and puts forward the salient points of his reflection on graphics. Beyond many conceptual or technical innovations, Bertin’s essential originality appears to be his attempt to propose a general framework for graphical representations.