Inspiration — brain function collapse

Minard’s map of Napoleon’s 1812 Russian campaign: a wide tan band narrows from the Niemen to Moscow, a thin black band returns, and a temperature chart runs underneath.

Carte figurative

Napoleon’s march on Moscow and back, in one drawing. The width of the band is the size of the army — 422,000 men crossing the Niemen, 100,000 reaching Moscow, 10,000 coming home — and the temperature on the retreat runs along the bottom, tied to the path by thin vertical lines. Six variables on one sheet, and you read the loss before you read a single number. Minard drew it at 88.