This page contains long descriptions of complex images in the zine, linked to from the PDF’s image alt-text. The descriptions below expand on the shorter alt-text to provide more context to select images.
The man is standing directly on the middle of the error curve, representing Quetelet’s Average Man. The hearts above his head represent how Quetelet believed that the average was the ideal.
Galton is drawing hearts under the percentiles of the curve existing above the median. He has marked the classes below the median with an “X”, representing his eugenic beliefs.
There is an arrow pointing from the crawling baby to a young student holding a pencil and test, which is graded with a C+. There is an arrow pointing from that student to a fully-grown adult worker, who is wearing a hard hat and holding a wrench and punch card. The evolution is meant to represent Taylorism’s effect on turning individuals into Average Students, to become Average Workers.
One figure is standing on the statue’s shoulder holding an umbrella over the statue, with the protective curve of the umbrella made out of Quetelet’s error curve. The other figure is polishing the statue with a cloth.
The top left person is holding up a sleep mask, looking toward a 1954 Schroeder and Repetto diagram of a human sitting. The top right person is inspecting the sleep mask on a 1969 Dreyfuss and Tilley diagram. The bottom left person is actively putting a sleep mask on a 1974 Diffrient diagram. The bottom right person is also putting a sleeping mask on a 1938 Neufert diagram.
On the chart, the ability column is divided into five categories, marked “sight”, “hearing”, “walking”, “reading (Braille)”, and “speaking”. Each category is marked with a dot on a spectrum ranging from low to average to high. The individual’s sight is marked on the low end, hearing above average, walking in the average range, reading toward the high end, and speaking in the average range. The dots are connected in a jagged line to represent the jagged, multidimensional nature of ability.