Infographics

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item Infographics

  • I recall seeing something like this in a TedTalk:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18854073

    It's a population pyramid graph with the ability to quickly change the year presented. Animating it to run through the years, you can see the larger and smaller generations move though life, getting older and passing away. Conveys high level demographic information very clearly and quickly.

  • I too saw Tufte's presentation. I saw it a couple years back in Chicago. I particularly remember the discussion about the role that PowerPoint may have played in the Challenger Disaster. All very interesting stuff... I walk past the books I got at that presentation almost everyday, and always think to myself, "I need to read them." But, to date, I haven't.

    The most interesting "graphic" I've seen recently was on ArcGIS Online. It was a map. There were two layers. One was the Marquette Interchange back in the 1970's and the other was the current interchange. The current map was the background, and you could change the transparency of the 1970's map to see how the interchange has changed over time. Very interesting to see how the interchange has expanded and the affect on surrounding neighborhoods.

    The Marquette Interchange is a major interchange in the Milwaukee area. It was fairly recently rebuilt.

    Thanks,
    MKE Data Guy

  • I like when I get multiple view of the information. When I see a good visualization I generally want to see the table of data it is based on.

  • My boss has the Napoleonic Tufte poster framed on his wall - it is well marketed, though in my opinion a bit overhyped and impractical.

    Check out the Google Wind Map: http://www.wired.com/design/2013/09/these-magical-prints-visualize-the-wind/

  • I really like some of the things on xkcd.com.

    Two of my favourites are: http://xkcd.com/657/large/

    and

    http://xkcd.com/980/huge/

  • http://xkcd.com/1127/large/

  • Steve said in his editorial about Infographics:

    "...but I wasn't sure how they'd translate to any of the business world's I'd worked in"

    That's the catch. Infographics don't lend themselves all that well to visualizing information necessary for business (or for informing the general public on *important* matters.) Data visualizations for business (or for managing any sort of operations/processes within a multitude of sectors) require the use of proven, effective means of communicating information so that important decisions can be made.

    As such, in addition to Edward Tufte, I highly recommend people check out Stephen Few (an expert in the field) (www.perceptualedge.com). Stephen references best available research on human visual perception and cognition to drive much of the principles behind his visualization guidelines. Really great stuff. His books are an excellent read (i.e., very tangible), his blog posts bring about insightful discussions (as well as various forms of bickering), and the discussion forums engage a community of people ranging from newbies to advanced.

    In regards to Napoleon's March, it's actually quite fascinating. In many ways, it reminds me of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. When you first enter along the memorial, the initial list of casualties is small, but as you descend further along the wall of fallen soldiers (i.e., as the US fell further into the war), the loss of life becomes staggering, rising above you and surrounding you. As you eventually progress out of the memorial (i.e. as the US begins to exit the war), the losses become fewer and eventually tapers... just as it began. Unlike many memorials which are of statues of soldiers, the Vietnam Memorial offers the viewer a momentary virtual trip among those that paid a dear price. The memorial isn't flashy (not that a memorial should be), yet it succeeds to honor and to inform.

    --Pete

  • The traffic graphic is my favorite, as anything in the New York City area that is called an expressway is more likely to look like a parking lot most of the time. And it doesn't even require avoiding something to cause the backup. Many people for some reason think that cars can't have any amount of speed at the bottom of a hill, so they slow down, not realizing that gravity would have taken care of any excessive speed in just a few more seconds (i.e. as soon as they head uphill on the other side). This happens all of the time on the Long Island Expressway approaching College Point Boulevard :angry:

  • peterzeke (12/20/2013)


    Steve said in his editorial about Infographics:

    "...but I wasn't sure how they'd translate to any of the business world's I'd worked in"

    That's the catch. Infographics don't lend themselves all that well to visualizing information necessary for business (or for informing the general public on *important* matters.) . . .

    Hmm. I found Tufte's pipeline diagram very useful for displaying subscriptions info: this many existing users, this many trials, this many trials converted to regular subscriptions, this many subscriptions not renewed, etc.

    The only problem was that it was one hell to program.

  • If you are on reddit, there is a subreddit called /r/dataisbeautiful (http://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/).

    Not a lot of volume, but people do post some interesting data visualizations. They are voting on their 'best of 2013' (http://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1t3132/best_of_dataisbeautiful_2013/)

  • Revenant (12/20/2013)


    peterzeke (12/20/2013)


    Steve said in his editorial about Infographics:

    "...but I wasn't sure how they'd translate to any of the business world's I'd worked in"

    That's the catch. Infographics don't lend themselves all that well to visualizing information necessary for business (or for informing the general public on *important* matters.) . . .

    Hmm. I found Tufte's pipeline diagram very useful for displaying subscriptions info: this many existing users, this many trials, this many trials converted to regular subscriptions, this many subscriptions not renewed, etc.

    The only problem was that it was one hell to program.

    Oh, indeed. My comment wasn't meant to suggest that all infographics fail to convey useful information, certainly some succeed, many don't. I find more "entertainment" value in most infographics rather than being "insightful". It's nice to find an infographic that succeeds to inform and generate emotion. Nonethelss, it's pretty easy to find examples of infographics that violate one of Tufte's design principles called the "data-ink ratio": http://www.infovis-wiki.net/index.php/Data-Ink_Ratio. "Above all else, show the data."

    A favorite infographic of mine, if it can be called that, is the humorous map of a "New Yorker's idea of the United States" by Daniel Wallingford.

  • The more senior the level you are trying to communicate with the less time they have to listen to your case and the more people they have trying to put forward their case.

    It isn't easy coming up with an infographic that conveys the key points in a glance and grabs their attention but it is worth it.

    At the other end of the scale who is going to read a 30+page document of text? If you can boil down your points to less than 3 pages by the use of an appropriate infographic then it is worth the time spent to create it.

    Information has value only if it someone takes the time to look at it and gain value from looking at it.

  • The pie I have not yet eaten ... http://imgur.com/4uuI2

    😛

  • mclarke 40933 (12/22/2013)


    The pie I have not yet eaten ... http://imgur.com/4uuI2

    😛

    There is more to BI data presentation than this...

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