visual data

We’re deep in the midst of a data viz heyday. Infographics are ubiquitous, presenting facts and data sets in straightforward ways that are, by design, easy to understand.

Willem Besselink takes a different approach by translating directed sets of information into physical forms. What’s not explicit, however, are the complex stats that inspire each work.

Each new installation is dictated by its own unique guidelines and rules, which themselves are based on a number of dependent variables, including site-specifics, materials, color scheme, and budget. “Setting these up and following them all through the project allows--or forces--me to do what needs to be done,” he says, in part following the lead of “hero” Sol Lewitt’s Sentences on Conceptual Art.

Belgian studio Coming Soon is all about making it big. Their Hand Lettering creations filled a giant chalkboard with letters in a variety of fonts and styles. And with Infographics XXXL, they’ve taken actual graphs and blown them up to a huge size for a client that specializes in the research of nanobodies.

The result is that, instead of casually glancing at the same old pie chart or bar graph, shareholders have something to keep their gaze on the numbers, like a blurry scientist walking by human-size bars or holding up a literal piece of the pie.

See a selection of Coming Soon’s giant infographics at the article link.

When it comes to visualizing data, it’s important to pick the right graph and the right kind of data range. Make it too detailed, and information gets lost and the reader leaves confused. Too simplified, and your data’s integrity is weakened.

Choosing the right infographic element shouldn’t be an art but common sense. After all, it’s an infographic – readers should get the gist of things at first glance and not have to get crossed-eyed in making sense of things...

Data is everywhere!

Take a look at the data that is being produced throughout the world every day and the sources of the explosion of big data...

Colour and Space is a project by designers Mie Frey Damgaard and Peter Ørntoft for decorative paint brand Jotun. It digs through Turkish Pinterest boards, analyzing two fairly basic but powerful categories: color and location. The results are placed into simple pie charts, showing preferred colors in places around the home like kids’ rooms (the faintest pink), living rooms (maize), and kitchens (white).

Colour and Space leverages big data to boil all that design into the simplest of actionable metrics--what color should my living room be? Because what you’re responding to in some random interior design photo may be the unique furnishings, but it’s just as often the color--that striking palette that’s all of a trip to Lowe’s away from reality.

When I wrote that Radar was investigating data journalism and asked for your favorite examples of good work, we heard back from around the world.

I received emails from Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Canada and Italy that featured data visualization, explored the role of data in government accountability, and shared how open data can revolutionize environmental reporting...

It was instructive to learn more about the work of two large media organizations, the Los Angeles Times and Canada’s Global News, which have been building their capacity to practice data journalism. The other international perspectives in my inbox and tweet stream, however, were a reminder that big-city newsrooms that can afford teams of programmers and designers aren’t the only players here.acts of data journalism by small teams or individuals aren’t just plausible, they’re happening — from Italy to Brazil to Africa.

That doesn’t mean that the news application teams at NPR, The Guardian, ProPublica or the New York Times aren’t setting the pace for data journalism when it comes to cutting edge work — far from it — but the tools and techniques to make something worthwhile are being democratized.

That’s possible in no small part because of the trend toward open source tools and social coding I’m seeing online, from Open Street Map to more open elections...

With 150,000 or so old print maps to his name, David Rumsey has earned his reputed place among the world's "finest private collectors." He continues to expand his personal trove as well as the digitized sub-collection he makes open to the public online — some 38,000 strong, and growing.

He's created a series of interactive maps that layer old prints onto the Google Earth and Google Maps platforms, and this summer he plans to launch a geo-referencing tool (similar to one recently introduced by the British Library) that lets users get involved in the digital mapping process themselves.

While preparing for this next expansion of his online map empire, Rumsey remains fascinated by "the power of putting these images up and letting them go," he says.

"Maps have a way of speaking to people very straightforward," he says. "You don't have to have a lot of knowledge of map history or history in general. To me they're perfect tools for teaching history to the public."

That’s right, there’s more to infographics than a scrolling image full of facts and figures. Different types of infographics are consumed differently.

The right kind of infographic should match your data to your narrative and ensure that people take away your message after reading it.

While infographics may not come in that many shapes or sizes (600 x 1,800 pixels is the norm), that doesn’t mean there’s a stock standard infographic for you.  

Use the flowchart to help you decide which infographic is right for you...

It wasn’t malicious. The file itself was the size of a small JPEG. It was given the absolute lowest priority. And it was set to self-destruct if anything went wrong. But this small file allowed one single hacker to measure the Internet activity of nearly half a million connected devices around the world, then share the results with everyone.

How was this even possible? The "hacker" barely hacked anything. In reality, they gained access to all these systems because each had the default "root" set as a password. With this access in hand, they ran several tests focusing on Internet structure and activity. And what they created from all this data is a spectacular map that captures a day in the life of the Internet (and all of its users).

Big Data has become an essential part of the world of business, providing billions of data points from targeted audiences globally.

Data points are comprised of the market intelligence that have been gathered into consumer behavior, purchasing patterns and brand affinity across numerous verticals from auto, tech, gaming, health and beauty, entertainment, and travel, among others.

The customer intelligence derived from actionable data helps identify markets and customers, measure brand loyalty and pinpoint new trends; ultimately, helping companies understand what people think.

Big data doesn’t come from one source, but from a multitude of sources – surveys, focus groups, mobile feedback, purchase history and customer service to name a few...

Mapping the global flow of scientific talent by way of Mondrian and Kandinsky.

After their wonderful visual timeline of the future based on famous fiction and visual history of the Nobel Prize, Italian information visualization designer Giorgia Lupi and her team at Accurat are back with another exclusive English version of a piece originally designed for La Lettura, the Sunday literary supplement of an Italian newspaper— this time exploring the phenomenon of global “brain drain” in science, with an eye towards understanding the reasons why researchers might choose to leave their countries of origin and pursue careers elsewhere.