Graphic Design (general) Archive:
Spineless Classics
27 Dec 2011
Ending the Infographic Plague
27 Dec 2011Megan McArdle critques the content of several info-posters in an article over at The Atlantic". It’s sort of shooting fish in a barrel, considering the infogrpaphics she chose – but I give her props for taking the time to double check the data.
Correlation or Causation
12 Dec 2011Amusing examples of why you shouldn’t trust a lot of charts. Thanks to Sam F. for sending me the link!
Designer’s Toolkit
2 Dec 2011
Cross-Border Investment Map
16 Nov 2011This is an interesting example because they really tried to have every part of the graphic convey information: color, size, and line type. (via The Big Picture)
If you look at the 2011 update of the report, you can see they have used a similar, but somewhat cleaner design. The labels are all clearer, and the use of a lighter background map and grey text improves the contrast considerably. Finally, I think using the color of the arrows instead of width for the value was a good call – as that’s easier for the eye to distinguish.
Unfortunately, I don’t know of any software that let’s you produce these quickly – you generally have to draw them by hand.
Preattentive Attributes
17 Oct 2011Over at Storytelling with Data, Cole provides a well written example of how to use preattentive attributes to make a better graphic. What the hell are “preattentive attributes”?
"Preattentive attributes" in the world of information visualization is a fancy descriptor for aspects of a visual that hit our iconic memory. Iconic memory is what happens in our brain before short term memory kicks in, before we even really know that we’re thinking. Iconic memory is tuned to pick up preattentive attributes: things like color, size, added marks, and spacial position (related Stephen Few article)
vs
This reminded me of some efforts on the education front to teach Graphicacy (Graphic literacy). While “graphicacy” is one of the dumber new words I’ve heard in a while, the concept is sound – the skill set of interpreting graphs. I have definitely witnessed people learning how to interpret new graph types, and it’s a fascinating process. The American Society for Innovation Design in Education (ASIDE) have done some interesting work on the subject if you want to look into it further:
The Value of Data Visualization
5 Oct 2011Designing a Cereal Box
26 Sep 2011Hehe. A step up from the usual info-poster, this graphic contains some sharp commentary on the corporate design process (and cereal).
Clothing: Looks vs Comfort
25 Aug 2011
Crayon Rainbow
15 Aug 2011Stephen von Worley re-designed Velociraptor’s Crayola Crayon color chart into a rainbow:
The radials make it much easier to see the most recent colors than in the original version:
He also tried several other shapes (below), and an interactive version. (via)
Sovereign Debt Ratings
1 Aug 2011I’m posting this more because it’s an example of a well designed cartogram map, more than because of the content. (via)
Data Journalism
29 Jul 2011As excellent article over at the Guardian about the rise of data journalism and what it takes to do it right.
Flying Carpet of Middle East Protests
In: Graphic Design (general) Interactive News Media Politics
4 May 2011There were so many of these last month I stopped looking at them – but this one is cute. Yes, I said cute. It’s an interactive flying timeline of protest milestones for 17 countries. Click on any of them to bring up a full Guardian article. They are also keeping it up to date (as of today, anyway).
Going Clubbing in Canada
12 Apr 2011The images were obviously chosen to be inflammatory – but the infographic is carefully constructed to do so in a serious way.
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An addictive collection of beautiful charts, graphs, maps, and interactive data visualization toys -- on topics from around the world.
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