- Chart Porn

The Road to 7 Billion

In: Global Economy History Interactive Maps Source: FT

27 Oct 2011

The Financial Times has pulled together some interactive visualizations of world demographics as we approach 7 billion people. I would have liked to see the population pyramids for more countries. The fertility/education graph is a bit shocking.

Note: Some FT features require a subscription.

(3) Comments

Shoe Throwing Index

In: Interactive Politics Source: Economist

24 Oct 2011

This is a strange little tool: an interactive index to middle east unrest.

Move the sliders to ascribe different weightings to the various indicators that may influence instability (since the values shown are rounded, they may not always add up to exactly 100). Lock individual sliders by clicking the checkboxes. Roll over the chart to see indicators for each country.

(1) Comment

Guide to the Euro Crisis

In: Finance Global Economy Graphic Tools Source: NYT

24 Oct 2011

A well annotated graphic from the NYT. Over at Visual Journalism, they point out the design differences between the print and online versions of this graphic.

online version:

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Scary Movies (1933-2006)

In: Culture History

20 Oct 2011

Halloween is next week! This graphic compares budget, box office revenue, and rotten tomatoes ratings of most of the classics.

(5) Comments

Occupy George

In: Humor Innovative Politics Source: Ritholtz US Economy

19 Oct 2011

Hacking money with graphics to draw attention to economic inequalities. I love that they included accurate titles and legends. (via Ritholtz)

(1) Comment

A Love Triangle

In: Culture Humor

18 Oct 2011

(via)

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Bible Sentiment

In: Culture Innovative

18 Oct 2011

These types of positive/negative word content analysis usually raise more questions than they answer (and there is discussion on that over at FlowingData), but they sure are pretty.

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Candy Bars

In: Food

18 Oct 2011

A charting of the very many bars wherein chocolate intersects with delightful compatriots, such as gooey caramel, sprightly nougat, and cookie crunch.

I can’t find anything bad to say about this. Now excuse me as I have to run to the corner market for a minute.

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Preattentive Attributes

In: Graphic Design (general)

17 Oct 2011

Over 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)

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:

(3) Comments

Life Expectancy (1960-2009)

In: History Interactive Science

15 Oct 2011

Highlight by region, roll over for individual country info. The interface is a little janky – you can join the discussion over at FlowingData if you have any suggestions.

(1) Comment

10 Essential Fiscal Charts

In: Finance Politics US Economy

14 Oct 2011

10 beautiful charts from the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Fiscal Analysis Initiative, examining the United States Debt and the challenges facing Congress’ Super Committee.

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What Wall Street Protesters are Angry About – in Charts

In: Bailout Employment Finance Politics Stock Market US Economy

14 Oct 2011

A series of 30+ charts on unemployment, wages, corporate profits, income inequality, debt, taxes, and bailouts from the Business Insider. It’s actually quite an accurate compendium, and the narrative annotation spices up what are otherwise pretty dry charts from the St. Louis Fed (note: if you’ve never used the FRED data/graphing system, you should really go play with it – they even have an APP now). I particularly like the sequence where they illustrate that banks are borrowing money from the FED at basically zero interest rates, and using it to buy treasuries. Hilarious.

(1) Comment

USA: Still A Nobel Country

In: Science

14 Oct 2011

Nobel Prize winners by topic and country.

Here’s a weird version from the WSJ, and an interactive summary of the 2011 winners.

(1) Comment

Washington DC Housing Prices

In: Housing Interactive Maps Source: Washington Post

11 Oct 2011

A nicely annotated analysis of changing house prices in the DC region. The main graphic shows how much you would need to earn to buy a “typical single family home”. There is also an interactive version which lets you compare information for different time periods and look at condo vs house sales. (related article)