Luis Melgar

Balañce: Trade between the United States and Spain

The United States is identified as the quintessential representation of capitalism. In this system, trade among nations plays a key role. The piece explores the economic relations between Spain and the U.S. by visualizing what type of goods these two countries interchange, the balance between both, and how Spain weighs when looking at the whole picture –all U.S. exports and imports.

Melgar primarily focuses on data-driven visualization, using generally more conventional graphic representations, like statistical graphics. The main focus of this case is the diverse commodity sectors exchanged between both countries. For that, it uses a graphic known as Voronoi. The main characteristic of Voronoi is its ability to visualize parts of a whole, as some other more well-known visual forms do, like the pie chart. Still, it produces a unique cellular-ish appearance that reflects trade’s importance in the market economy.