BP Oil Spill

This is an interesting animation of the BP oil spill data called Oil'd by Chris Harmon. I'm a huge fan of infographic videos anyways, but I think this was does a really good job adding helpful context to these numbers.

Its one of Fast Co's Daily Infographics - an excellent source of high quality and content data visualizations.

Oil'd from Chris Harmon on Vimeo.

How Would You Like Your Graphic Design?

This is hysterical - and so so so true! I wish I could just email this to potential clients so they can decide what they want and we can all be on the same page from the get go :)
























Designed by Colin Harman and available for purchase here for $28.50

Via coolinfographics.com

Should I Work For Free

Check out this fun decision flowchart (seem to be all the rage these days) by Jessica Hische, designer of beautiful typography, on "Should I work for free?"

She gives some pretty fun scenarios and as a desperate grad student, I've been in way too many of them haha

Also, not to be missed, she did it in html so that you can translate it using Google Translate into like a million languages. Its also available for download in English as a jpg.

Via Daniel & Cool Infographics

Journalism in the Age of Data: A Video Report on Data Visualization by Geoff McGhee

Journalism in the Age of Data by Geoff McGhee

Journalism in the Age of Data from Geoff McGhee on Vimeo.

This is quite possibly the most valuable find in the thesis research so far. It is a spectacular video on the state of news design and information design. The video was put together by Geoff McGhee and I have to say, the flash version of the video has blown me away. For each of the 8 sections, there are tabs and as a new speaker or topic comes up, tabs with relevant information appear along the bottom. If you have an hour to spare, I HIGHLY recommend taking a peek at this video. Each section is also available as a podcast.

The Beauty of Data Visualization

This is a talk by David McCandless, author of Visual Miscellaneum, at TEDGlobal 2010 this July. He's is journalist turned designer and in his talk he discusses some great concepts. He mentions how incredibly vital context is when creating and understanding an infographic. I think that is so true, especially with all of the infographics now used in the media. We think we're better understanding an issue or problem, but if the proper context is not included, we could be totally off the mark.

McCandless says he loves finding hidden patterns within data. I could not agree more and I think thats a huge reason for my daily life documenting project (ongoing for 637 days as of today, Sept 29). The revealing of hidden trends and patterns through data design is definitely one of the best parts.

Here is the original video from TED. TED = awesome. Also if you're as enamored with a few of his comments as I was...surprise, TED has a Interactive Transcript feature that allows you to skip around to any specific moment in the presentation by phrase.

The Perfect Pour

"The Perfect Pour" Poster by Plaid Inc - Thomas Wilder

This is such a fun poster! The designer, Thomas Wilder of Plaid Inc, took his love for coffee and infographics and created this great image. What started as an innocent argument with a barista on how to make a perfect latte ended with something I will now be the proud owner of in 2-3 weeks :)

I think one of the best parts of this poster is the quality of the printing. They were printed offset on Mohawk Superfine, Eggshell, 100 lb text in CMYK. Purchasers are encouraged to take a photo of the poster hanging wherever you so choose as a continuation of the project. I'm excited to see where that goes as well.

Seen on FPO. Theres a ton more amazing pics of the project there.