A picture is worth a thousand words, and the current era, more than any other, seems to confirm it: both online and offline, we are surrounded by illustrations, maps, charts, diagrams that communicate information of all kinds through the visual language, even before the verbal one.

And, by the way, Knight Chair in Visual Journalism at the School of Communication of the University of Miami (UM), Alberto Cairo takes a stock about the most effective types of statistics and cartographic representations, and on the "visual quantitative thinking " in general in his latest book “The Truthful Art”. The book, available from next March, is part of a research branch among the most interesting for the future development of communication, both for business and for the public administrations.

The organizational and explanatory power of images was indeed rediscovered, especially thanks to a totally contemporary phenomenon which directly concerns institutional actors: the availability of huge amounts of data made accessible by the new media. To be able to consult these data does not mean, however, to automatically know how to relate and understand in depth their meaning. Thus, in this scenario, in which we have "too much" information, but less and less time to assimilate them, there is the need for infographics and data visualization that can make data immediately utilizable and understandable, using and enhancing the visual language. Hence, using also the "visual thinking", as taught by Alberto Cairo himself, who is among the most respected experts on the world stage.