Infographic Hotlinks

Graphic Design Software and Skills:- beautiful Info-graphic, 2 thumbs up

Good Info-graphics: website dedicated to info-graphics. What works, what is sustainable, prosperous, productive, creative, and just. 

Data Driven Documents:  free JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data.

Datavisualization.ch: showcases data visualization and is published by Interactive Things, a design and technology studio based in Zürich, Switzerland.

Four Ways to Slice Obama 2013 Budget Proposal: interactive info-graphic, published by the New York Times.

My preferred infographic software tools...
Stat Silk: free version available. Creates a Flash map but doesn't give access to Flash document, just swf file.
Tableau Public: Windows-only, worth taking a look at
Gapminder: interactive, motion chart. Free download, but must use their data sets.

Interactive Infographic Project Statement

Subject

The global decline of amphibians in relation to the world’s ecological footprint over the course of a specific time frame. The challenges confronting our global environment and the needs of the world’s human populations have never been greater; the future, quite literally, is in the balance. Every person on Earth deserves a healthy environment and the fundamental benefits that nature provides. But our planet is experiencing an unprecedented drawdown of these resources, and it is only by protecting nature and its gifts – a stable climate, fresh water, healthy oceans and reliable food – that we can ensure a better life for everyone, everywhere.

Objective: Activist

To relate to the public the impact of their lifestyle on a specific species. Your actions cause this to happen, make a change.

Client

Conservation International

Scope

Ecological Footprint encompasses carbon emissions as well as the consumption of food, fuel, wood, and fiber. It’s a measure of the area needed to support a population’s lifestyle. Land use for developments, crops, cattle grazing all create a loss of habitat as well as pollutants and carbon emissions. With our industrial evolution we’ve impacted the climate on other species. As earth stewards we must become activists to allow all species to cohabit the earth.

Content

Two graphs - ecological footprint and amphibian decline - are displayed interactively to show how the ecological footprint has impacted a specific species.

Destination and Format

Web/online; interactive piece (html or .swf)

Interactive Infographic Competitive Analysis

Visualizing.org had two examples that corresponds to the project I have in mind:
Our Planet in Ecological Debt by ChartsBin.com
Value of Nature - Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity by Jacob Houtman

Data Visualization Hotlinks

How to Make Information Graphics and Data Visualizations: this is a really good site detailing the difference between information graphics and data visualization.How to create a visualizationData Visualization for non-programmers: Shows how to use Google docs spreadsheet to create a data-set and is a tutorial with downloadable files to follow along.Creating graphs in Illustrator: how to use the graph tool in Illustrator to create beautiful graphsCreate cool info-graphics: Digital Arts article by Wendy Ding, a freelance graphic designer. She details how she uses Illustrator to create an info-graphic.FlowingData: Visualization, Statistics, Design and Tutorials - three thumbs up!How to Create Outstanding Modern Info-graphics: - vector tuts +, a step-by-step tutorial using IllustratorInfo-graphic Designs: has some beautiful examples10 Examples of Info-graphicsMetroBoston DataCommon: an example of government making use of data visualizationsVisualize This!: a book on data visualizationInformation is Beautiful: a site dedicated to data visualization

Environmental Design Hotlinks

• AIGA Symbol Signs: complete set passenger/pedestrian symbols developed by AIGA is available for all to use, free of charge.
• The Noun Project       
• Seattle Department of Transportation online wayfinding displaying where you can park in Seattle. I found it somewhat clunky to use.

Photos I've taken recently of way-finding in Seattle:

P2 Statement

Subject

Ecological Footprint (U.S. Totals, Washington state specific).

Objective: Activist/Advocacy
To educate the Washington state citizen on the impact of their lifestyle to the environment.

Client
Cascade Sierra ClubWashington State Chapter or Seattle.gov Office of Sustainability and Environment

Scope

Ecological Footprint encompasses carbon emissions as well as the consumption of food, fuel, wood, and fiber. It’s a measure of the area needed to support a population’s lifestyle. When looking at data the U.S. has the highest ecological footprint so I’d like to focus on the U.S. and break in down to states and what elements are creating the high numbers.

Content
It will incorporate methods of transforming data into meaning found in The 48 design patterns: The Form of Facts and Figures. Ideally, you will frame these separate 'slices' of information in conjunction with each other, and in conjunction with images and illustrations germane to your topic.

Destination and Format: Web/online; interactive piece (html or .swf)

Research
http://www.myfootprint.org/ (Quiz)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_footprint

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/fjjGFn/page/footprint_basics_overview/

http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=322

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/energy-environment-2007/energy_footprint_a1.asp

Unit 4 Hotlinks

The best tools for visualization
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_best_tools_for_visualization.php

Music map
http://www.turbulence.org/Works/song/gallery/gallery.html

Data mapping
http://www.exforsys.com/tutorials/data-mining/data-mining-stages.html

Unit 6 Hotlinks

Couldn't help but include this one!
http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm

Tokyo subway map, gulp, consider me overwhelmed
http://subway.umka.org/map-tokyo.html

Paris subway map, very easy to read
http://www.pixopark.com/paris_subway_map.php

A blog regarding data flow
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2010/05/10/data-flow-2-book/

Unit 6 Reading Summary

Wow, this chapter was so much easier to read than Chapter 2! What a wonderful example to detail the thought process for a visualization model. I really appreciated the author's thoughtfulness and decision-making process on his Kickmap map of New York's subway. I've taken the subway in New York, but was fortunate enough to have a native New Yorker be my tour guide, no thinking on my part was necessary, thank goodness!

Include the essentials and Geography is about relationships: use easy references (like the Statue of Liberty) but don't include everything
Leave out the clutter: sometimes accurate depictions can be confusing, simplifying it can make for easier reference; i.e. crisscrossing of subway lines can be simplified to user routes
Color: good tool to use and helps user to easily identify
Prototype - try a version with everything on it and then eliminate
Different versions for different situations: airport maps come to mind with this - when in an airport's tram you don't need a whole map of the airport, just what concourse and main sections it stops at; conversely when navigating the concourses, an overview is good to get from one to the other, and a more detailed version when I get to that concourse.

Unit 4 Reading Summary

I found chapter two very difficult to read - style of writing was the problem I believe. However, I was able to gleam some information from it. The author's thought process, although lengthy, was a good review; as was the references to software - Excel and Photoshop. I especially liked the Excel formulas and anticipate using it at some point (most likely for the project 2).

Other information I took note of was:

• Most visualization should have a goal or purpose and present data in a meaningful way - tell a story. Very few visualizations are just for show.
• Question + Visual Data + Context = Story
• Stacked time series
• Good rule of thumb: to restrict a visualization to stating things that can be seen from the data alone and allow the users to draw their own conclusions (don't skew or mislead)
• Maintain consistency when making data decisions and add a footnote to state said decisions
• Visual hook: (I liked this term and analog) use something the users can relate to, i.e. continent maps, icons - makes it more likely that the audience will remember the visualization.
• Reduce users comprehension time increases impact of the visualization (leave out the clutter)
• Twist: (another good one) violating the norm (or expectations) of the users; i.e. making one continent smaller than actual size in comparison to another of unusual larger size
• Maps: use .svg (usually found in Wikipedia commons) scalable vector graphic file
• Map Visual Anchor: choose the largest measurement, open in Photoshop and use histogram to determine pixel size; and use that number in an Excel formula to accurately scale each element

P2 ideas

Tennis statistics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lists_of_tennis_records_and_statistics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronological_list_of_women%27s_major_tennis_champions

Auto Accidents in U.S.
http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx

Carbon Footprint in the U.S.
http://www.eredux.com/states/
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/energy-environment-2007/energy_footprint_a1.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions
http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator/index.htm

I’d like to focus on carbon footprint. It would tie in with Project 1 – Oregon Spotted Frog.

InDesign Interactive Tutorials

Just sharing! Did some research on how to create interactive documents using InDesign to make my infographic a dynamic PDF.

Turn Your InDesign Documents into Interactive Flash Content
Making your own interactive button
Creating documents with interactive features
Creating interactive documents for PDF (add movies, sound, buttons)
Make a PDF portfolio with interactive rollovers
InDesign tutorial: Create Interactive PDFs
How to create interactive PDFs in InDesign using hyperlinks