Rural to Urban Graphic Falls Short

The USA Today snapshot depicting America's shift from a rural to an urban population is not only cluttered and difficult to look at, it's virtually useless. The graphic contrasts the rise in urban living to the steady decline of more rural communities. However, the criss-cross pattern of the image along with the abundance of numbers makes the image visually unappealing as well as confusing. The image also includes "cutesy" pictures of a farmer and a corporate "city slicker", which not only make the image seem childish, but also adds to the overall cluttered appearance.

Secondly, without the caption included on the outside of the graphic, I would've had no clue what the image was even trying to portray. It's titled "USA's Shift from Rural to Urban", but shift from rural to urban what? Fashion? Jobs? Landscapes? Only the description included on the side of the image explains that the graphic is depicting a shift in rural to urban populations.

But, all of this even fails to mention that the message of this graphic is virtually obsolete. The chart depicts a 12% decrease in rural populations from the year 1920 to 1960. Not only is that a relatively insignificant decline to occur in the course of 40 years, but that's to be expected. Think of our country's developments in technology and architecture. Of course we've made a shift to a more urban lifestyle. It'd be more surprising if this change hadn't occurred. With progress comes change. This shift is completely natural.

While I do appreciate USA Today's attempt to share this "news worthy" topic, as well as their adorable clip-art picture of a farmer in overalls, this graphic definitely falls short. With a confusing image and a pointless message, it's safe to say that this chart isn't "news worthy". It's just a waste of space.