The Mathematics of Music
Infographic Design
OBJECTIVE
To design an information graphic by employing a variety of design systems to visualize and convey complex information.
To combine visual aesthetics and semantics through the integration of form and function.
The infographic will inform and educate on the mathematics of music with specific examples from the German composer and musician Johann Sebastian Bach.
The infographic will target a ready-to-know audience of those knowledgeable and interested in music theory.
Break down the structural elements of Bach’s music to analyze the harmony of balance and surprise through an abstract graphical composition.
The measure of how surprising or predictable a composition is.
Notes and connections—nodes and edges—that come together to form the complex network of pieces that make up the musical composition.
The technique of composing a musical piece to be played forwards and backwards.
Concept idea: Comparing musical and mathematical symbols
Concept idea: Visual interpretation of the balance, predictability, and surprise of Bach’s music, as well as capturing the idea of retrograde through the use of graphic elements like a circle.
Final concept exploration: Using network theory to explore the connections and patterns between notes in Bach’s Crab Canon.
Cited sourceThe infographic breaks down Bach’s Crab Canon into a graphic composition of networks that come together to form a beautiful and simple array of lines and circles.
The graphic combines mathematical symbols with graphical representations of notes and musical connections. The largest circles represent the musical half notes in Bach’s Crab Canon, the medium-sized circles represent the quarter notes, and the smallest circles represent the eighth notes.
The subtle use of color allows the main black graphic to sit on a white background as is the custom of traditional sheet music. The transparent blue is friendly to the eye and adds sufficient color to pull back the heading, callout, and treble clef element to keep the audience’s focus on the center graphic.