Chart Porn
data visualizations you just gotta love…
My Thoughts on Blog Monetization
5 Feb 2010I created Chart Porn because I love graphics. I love data. I love visualizations. I love sharing with other people the information, perspective, and inspiration that I gain from all these works of data art.
I maintain Chart Porn because it’s fun. I have enjoyed watching it evolve over time, and I am regularly entertained by the emails I get behind the scenes from designers, news outlets, researchers, students, and other bloggers. One of my favorites from last year asked very politely if I could please mirror the blog under a different name so they could forward it to their family without embarrassment. (Ummmm… No.)
A friend asked me recently if I was making any money from the site now that it has a bit of a following. To be honest, I hadn’t thought seriously about it. I have a full time job. Hosting Chart Porn doesn’t cost all that much (though I did just upgrade to a bigger server), and I’ve always thought of it as a gift. I love the minimalist design of the site and don’t want to mar it with advertisements – so that’s not going to happen anytime soon.
After giving it some thought, I have decided to add a donation box to the sidebar of the website. I’ve read that some people view blog tip jars as cheesy panhandling. I don’t see it that way. It’s a tip – a sign of appreciation for doing good work.
If Chart Porn makes you laugh or think on a regularly basis and you want to show your thanks, then feel free to click on the donation box. If not, that’s fine too. I’ll keep posting cool charts either way.
Thanks!
Guardian Zeitgeist
In: Interactive| News Media
5 Feb 2010Another color coded graphic news aggregator. This one from the Guardian.
Volunteers in America
In: Culture| Employment| US Economy
5 Feb 2010Good data on who volunteered where in 2009. I’ll spare you my usual critique of Good’s visualization choices.
How Much Pie Charts Suck (in 3D!)
5 Feb 2010Jon Peltier executes another one of his wonderful critiques/rants about the uselessness of pie charts.
State of the Internet
In: Culture
5 Feb 2010
Tax Calculator
5 Feb 2010A fun toy for examining historic US tax rates and government expenditure. You put in your income and it graphs the amount of taxes you pay and breaks down what the government spent it on. As usual on this type of stuff, there are pages and pages of comments arguing about the methodology and what it all means. (via).
and in honor of those tax arguments:
(originally from here)
The Rising Cost of Death
In: Culture
5 Feb 2010How much a standard funeral costs today. Also shows cremation rates by state – but doesn’t say how much cremation costs – probably because this was created by a life insurance org. (via)
Art and Culture Timelines
5 Feb 2010Some beautiful and fascinating hand drawn/painted timelines from artist Ward Shelley on a wide variety of topics. Interesting write-up on motivation and methods from the artist. (via)
The evolution of the Avant Garde art scene: 
Frank Zappa: 
Rock genres: 
Andy Warhol’s world: 
Data Fiction
5 Feb 2010Something a little different today: A fictional story told through data visualizations. The link below goes to the flickr version, while a larger presentation appears on designer Kim Asendorf’s website. I definitely love the idea and the execution — of course, visualizations are probably a little easier to create when you get to make up the data. 
Faulty Employment Statistics
In: Employment| US Economy
4 Feb 2010Poor assumptions in the how the BLS calculates unemployment will lead to a downward adjustment of 824,000 on Friday – read the technical explanation. (via The Big Picture).
Inflated Worth
In: Bailout| Culture| Employment| Finance| Interactive
2 Feb 2010A little silly, but the size of the CEOs head shows his pay vs the average worker 1970-2005.
Heavy Medal
In: Culture| Global Economy| Interactive| Maps
2 Feb 2010
About this blog
A collection of interesting charts, tables, maps, and interactive data toys -- with a focus on economics and graphic design. Enormous thanks to the bloggers who help find all this stuff, and the wonderful researchers, analysts, and graphic artists who create them.
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- Damana Madden: I donated what I could to your site. It is quite brilliant. My subscription to your feed shows me th [...]
- James Burke: Hi, Is there a twitter account for chartporn? (may have to be another name!?) - I often link to c [...]
- Joey: As a faggot I object to the term "gearfaggotry". [...]
- LoneSnark: Dustin, good point. As such, it is quite likely that mandatory paid leave would result in salaries b [...]
- Steven Zalesch: Concerning the WSJ 'Election 2010' map --- Yep, it’s official. Accountants out there take note [...]