While serendipitous online research can sometimes seem like a tool of procrastination, it often leads to thought-provoking visual treats. A good example is a publication designed by the Modernist designer, Will Burton, while he was serving in Army during WWII, in the presentation branch of the OSS. During that time he created the infographics on position firing in a gunnery training manual for the US Air Force.

Burtin was one of the émigré artists and designers, including Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Herbert Bayer, and Ladislav Sutnar who shaped American visual culture during the 1940s and ‘50s, first working as art director at Fortune magazine, and later as a design consultant to Kodak, I.B.M. and Upjohn. His life and work were detailed in a 2008 book; but this find, from the Letterform Archive Info, shows his early involvement in conveying complex technical information clearly enough that the average recruit could get it. Following is an extract from the review of Design and Science: The Life and Work of Will Burtin, in Design Observer:

Burtin referred to himself as an “integrator,” a term he used to describe his own position as both a visual researcher and an interpreter of science, who could deliver ideas with a level of insight deepened by the form he bestowed upon concepts. He clearly wavered between regarding himself as an artistic “creator” whose work was informed by the precepts and forms of visual Modernism, and depicting his practice as a sort of science of visual interpretation, where the work was informed by a discipline of engaged research. It is the dual nature of Burtin’s practice that remains of interest to contemporary designers seeking to bridge that gap between participation in research, and the potential use of graphic design as a way of developing and sharing knowledge.