Creativity in Darwin's diagram of the evolutionary process

As part of a larger project that describes how time is visually represented to meet people’s needs within different domains, this research describes Charles Darwin’s creativity in designing his diagram of the evolutionary process or natural selection. The visual representation of time is an important area of study since time itself required invention. Time, which can be described as our perception of change or as events occurring in succession, is a complex cognitive construct for which cultures needed thousands of years to develop designs to represent and measure it. Darwin’s theory of natural selection, which he first published in 1859, is especially complex so he needed to take great care in creating a diagram that would complement his written text and be accessible to the public. Therefore, to create the diagram – which he acknowledged as imperfect -- Darwin relied upon familiar visual systems including trees of life, a generational timescale like those in family trees, the geological timescale, and a Cartesian coordinate system. In theory, the results of this research mean that innovators may combine visual signs from a range of domains to communicate their ideas. The results also show, however, that once a structure is created, it is difficult to change. For example, Ernst Haeckel’s famous upwardly moving tree of life still impacts upon evolutionary tree designs even though people do not conceive of time as moving in the vertical direction. Researchers have continued to explore how evolution occurs, and they continue to use elements from Darwin’s and others’ designs to visually present their findings. This research explains the visual elements in Darwin’s diagram and how researchers rely on his diagram and theory to present findings of their own. The most effective ways to visually represent the evolutionary process are still being researched.