Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft: Bildstatistisches Elementarwerk - Kautshukwirtschaft der Erde [14080.049]
The pattern
This still is filed under Data as proof.
Define
A chart, map, or count that is the argument, not an illustration next to the argument.
Mechanism
Sighted evidence. The reader is asked to believe their eyes: a bar, a share, a spread on a map.
Verdict
The claim is comparative or quantitative and the figure can be read without a caption doing the sell.
Why it works
One block of symbols facing another across an ocean states a dependency relationship with no arrows and no text, because the eye pairs the two densest masses automatically. The key uses a brace to group three of the four symbols under one material class and leave the fourth, reclaimed rubber, standing apart, so a subtle distinction is made structurally rather than in a footnote. The single orange accent is spent on the one row that changes the story, which is how a plate with essentially one colour still has a focal point. Leaving the oceans blank means all visual weight is data, so even the small one-symbol entries stay findable.
Steal this when
Use this when the point is a supply dependency between two places and you want the imbalance felt rather than argued. The braced key is the detail to copy whenever most of your categories are variants of one thing and one is genuinely different.