5 Examples of Good and Bad Information Design « Helen Weselcouch's Blog When I lived in Paris two years ago I loved the Subway system so much more than the godawful subways here. Not only were they clean and beautiful, the subway maps were incredibly easy to understand and use especially for foreigners like myself that started off not knowing the city at all. In addition to Paris, London has an exemplary subway system and subsequent map. IT is designed beautifully and is so easy to use. the Tube I think the following example is an excellent example of information design because it takes a difficult and complex process and makes it incredibly easy to understand through the use of text and eye catching colors. How Laws are Made When I googled “good examples of information design,” the following image came up and I personally think it’s terrible. Bad Information Design The following design illustrates how much money we’re spending on the current ware effort in the Middle East in 10 “easy” steps. Three Trillion Dollar War How to Avoid PENNs Like this: Like Loading...
Candy Chang Analytics And Visualization' softwares list Google's Long History of Social Media Attempts [INFOGRAPHIC] Sure Facebook privacy issues can be frustrating, but what's the alternative? With more than 400 million users, no other social media platform has been able to touch Facebook's grip on person-to-person networking. But rumors have already started to fly that Facebook may soon face some stiff new competition. Google is supposedly getting into the market with Google Me, a not-yet-launched, oft-rumored social network that will directly compete with Facebook. Still, Google hasn't had the best track record when it comes to social media attempts. EDIT: The graphic has been updated to include Google Lively. More Google Resources from Mashable: - 10 Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About Google- 10 Must-See Google Street View Sightings- 5 Must-See Google Easter Eggs- 4 Ways Non-Profits Can Use Google Buzz- The Small Business Guide to Google Apps [img credit: Robert Scoble]
Games that launch companies, games that heal: Q&A with Jane McGonigal Jane McGonigal is a game designer with an apparently simple idea: some of the billions of hours we spend playing games can be used to solve real world problems, and it can be done by playing games. Her new book, Reality Is Broken, explores the power of games to change people’s lives. It’s just out this week. The TED Blog caught up with her in the middle of the release to talk about games, saving the world, and the simple power of Angry Birds. Since your TEDTalk, you’ve managed a full run of Evoke, you social entrepreneurship game. It was really exciting! The most eye-opening outcomes were how many real-world businesses, real-world social enterprises were founded by players of the game over the course of the ten weeks, and then actually launched in the summer following the game. One example is this great project called Libraries Across Africa. That’s fantastic. The subtitle is “Why games make us better, and how they can change the world.” Exactly. The reception was great. Right.
C9 Inc. | Sales Precision The Data + Design Project: Pie Charts February Here at Visual News, we’ve been looking for designers/illustrators to participate in an ongoing design series called the Data + Design Project. As an off-shoot of Column Five Media, we are ardent supporters of the union between data and design. Last month we started curating the Data + Design Project gallery as a way to show how flexible and beautiful data visualizations can actually be. With the Visual News website getting over 1.1 million monthly visitors, 13,000 Facebook fans and 2,900 Twitter followers, we hope this can become a valuable resource for inspiration. Each month, a few designers are invited to create a data visualization piece, using data about a subject which interests them. Data is everywhere, and we want to see the many ways data from everyday life can be interpreted. Check out the excellent designs contributed for “Pie Chart February” below, then click here or the images below to see the main Data + Design Project page.
Fellows Friday Q&A with Candy Chang In her public art pieces, Candy Chang uses low-tech tools such as chalk, Post-it notes, and stickers to help people make their cities more user-friendly. We sat down with Candy to ask her more … Candy asks: If you could ask one question to all of your neighbors, what would you ask? Click here to respond on Facebook now! You have so many public art projects going on. Well, my Civic Center colleagues and I just launched Neighborland. I created fill-in-the-blank stickers that say “I Wish This Was _____” and posted them on vacant storefronts. Some of these conversations needed to move to a more constructive space. As a complement to Neighborland, we’re also developing a public art project called How to Start a Business. Where do your projects come from? I think my background in street art, design, and urban planning have shaped a lot of what I like to do. Looking for Love Again, an interactive public installation on a vacant high-rise in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Urgent Evoke - A crash course in changing the world. Exclusive interview with Brenda Laurel: We "brought girls roaring into the online game space" Brenda Laurel spoke at TED in early 1998 — at a watershed moment. In 1997, she launched Purple Moon to make smart computer games aimed at girls. By 1999, the company had come to a much-publicized end. But between start and finish, Purple Moon marked a sea change in the girl-game market. The TED Blog interview Laurel via email last week, to get the rest of the Purple Moon story, and to talk about how the experience changed her and (just maybe) changed the world. Brenda Laurel: Games for girlsFrom the interview: I adored those [games]. Can you talk a bit about Purple Moon’s development in the two years after this talk — you mention more Rockett titles, for instance. Yes, but in a more general way. Then we developed a series based on soccer (The Starfire Soccer Challenge), because women’s soccer was such a big deal to girls in that time period — during the time when American women were getting close to winning the World Cup. You bet. And then — what’s next for you?