October 2010
2 posts
The Growth of Walmart in America
This animated map demonstrates the growth of Walmart stores in America starting in 1962. It’s incredible to see some of the patterns emerging and the speed they advance from the 1970’s onwards. The animation can be viewed here.
September 2010
8 posts
WatchUsing a mixture of animation and film styles this piece analyses what went wrong at Copenhagen creating awareness around the issue while offering potential solutions. Amazed how all the styles are so different yet it doesn’t feel disconnected and confusing.
WatchA brief history of Information Design Evolution
“What distinguishes narrative is that it takes shape, in however attenuated a...”
– McEwan & Egan
Where are you on the Global Rich List?
I recently attended Semi Permanent and had the fortune of seeing Nicolas Roope speak about his fantastic studio Poke. He talked about using ‘vanity’ or personal engagement in order to get people interested in a message. One of his examples was their Global Rich List site that aims to raise awareness about how fortunate some of us are if you look at income on a global scale. Through...
July 2010
7 posts
Youtube Collection
If you are especially interested in animated narrations like I am, you may want to check out a small collection of these in my favourites on YouTube. These can be found at intheform YouTube.
Common Sense
This installation looks at the realities of the ‘American Dream.’ It seems that crafting data into physical objects can enhance the communication of concepts through demonstrating scale and making it tangible. This piece demonstrates the economic mobility in various countries.
Blogs of Interest
As you may know, this blog is aligned with a University paper I am currently participating in. Others in the class have blogs of various topics, some that may be of interest in relation to design and others that have a focus on science communication. I have listed them below, definitely worth having a look at!
Anything About Bugs (bugs and nature)
Birdzones (‘adventures of amateur...
“Schooled to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a...”
– Ivan Illich
Virtual Water
Virtual water refers to the amount of water used in the production of goods or services. The Virtual Water project aims to address the ‘the vast amount of water consumed and polluted in the making of products’ and its ‘enormous impact on the ecological footprint of human civilization.’ The interface is well designed and the infographics are consistent with sharp, honest...
June 2010
1 post
“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have...”
– T S Eliot
Design For America
Sunshine Labs recently held a competition called ‘Design For America’ where entries were called to make visualizations from the US Government’s open data feed. The winners included a passport form redesign, a great infographic about how a bill becomes a law and a short animation about federal government spending. Check them all out here.
May 2010
10 posts
In case you need a reminder, his greatest hit lives here.
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It...”
– E F Schumacher
Tailored Infographic
Here is an site where you can create your own infographic and compare your lifestyle with other respondents. Great interface, did it in portuguese the first time and still understood the questions due to some very friendly icons. The english option is the flag in the right corner by the way. Great way to create personal value for participants.
Useful to know...
GE Power Visualizations
GE has a neato piece of interactive information design on their website. It shows power expenditure of appliances in dollars, watts, gallons of gas and yields. Pity is is only available in American units. Blerg. Still pretty cool though.
Interwebz Limitations
I have been searching out ways to approach information design on the internet. In regards to infographics there are some limitations due to screen size and magnification. Traditional poster size infographics were made to be printed and viewed 1:1. On the internet images are constantly resized and undersized due different browsers and screens.
To address this people have been using applications...
Tasty Visuals
Helpful visualisation of what makes successful information design. From the ‘Information is Beautiful’ site which is chocka with visualisations of many social issues and ‘infographic morsels.’
April 2010
9 posts
A Book?! Huzzah!
Have just finished reading a fantastic overview on the world of information design. This book really highlights the diversity of the discipline including articles on exhibition design, gaming, data visualization.
Good Website
The Good site tells you ‘what is good right now.’ Despite being focused on America is has some great articles and a whole infographics section devoted to visualizing environmental and social data.
3 tags
What Not To Do
This demonstrates how the misuse of information design can produce what Edward Tufte coined ‘chartjunk.’ Click for the the whole image for a bit of a giggle.
USB Design to Show Memory
This shows information design in a tangible application. The USB concept shows how much space is free with pink light showing images, green showing text and blue showing documents. One way to ‘make information visible.’ Another interesting concept is the USB that changes its physical size in response to data on board.
Information Design at its Best
‘This is a pie graph of my favourite bars… and this is a bar graph of my favourite pies!’
Zing!
Smart Paper Dispenser
Great way of communicating our impact on the environment in real time and as the action is happening.
WatchI admire how engaging this short film on food miles is. The animation and CGI is very dynamic and communicate the issue in a clear and informative way. Funded as an advertising campaign by the food company Hellmann’s it is not without criticism, this can be read on the vimeo site
Systems Are Go. Huzzah!
Hello earthlings, welcome to my humble internet abode.
I trust your journey here was agreeable . I hereby would like to formally introduce you to my blog. As you may have deduced my interest lies in how information design distills ideas into intelligent and communicable forms. The delivery of complex ideas through information design can unlock what would otherwise be unfathomable for many and...