Data + Design Project

Two Superb, Hand-Drawn Maps of London

Monday 03.25.2013 , Posted by

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When I visited Rome last summer I picked up a free, hand-drawn map of the city. To be honest I wasn’t expecting much, but when I started navigating using the small map, I was astounded at the detail it contained in each hand-drawn line. To be finding my way around the ancient city using only someone’s fine penmanship was like stepping back into the bygone era of hand-made cartography. Today we have Google Maps. It’s a tool which blows away any hand-created map as far as accuracy and search-ability, but something is certainly lost in the aesthetic beauty and ability to roll out a large city on the table before you. These fine maps of London from Wellingtons Travel, bring back the maps of old and do it with useful style. [Read more...]

Massive Ice Typography With A Message

Friday 03.22.2013 , Posted by

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Environmental artist Nicole Dextras creates larger than life installations with a message to share, but the message only lasts as long as the weather permits. For her series Signs of Change, Dextras used wooden forms to create ice words that ranged from 18inches to 8 feet tall and placed them in various locations throughout Canada from the highly trafficked metropolis of Toronto to the pristine corners of the Yukon. The angle from which they are viewed as well as how far along they are in the melting process determine how a person might interpret them. She uses coloring in some of the sculptures to make them stand out more and make sure her message gets noticed and takes photographs and time lapse videos to record their life and eventual death. The medium of ice shows the transient nature of all things. [Read more...]

Shred Again: Old Skateboards Become Electric Guitars

Wednesday 03.20.2013 , Posted by

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After the invention of the electric guitar in the 1940s and the skateboard in the 1950s, it was simply inevitable that somebody would combine the two classic instruments of shredding. Now Buenos Aires based duo, Ezequiel Galasso and Gianfranco de Gennaro have created Skate Guitar – a project which recycles old skate decks into something ready to soar again… at least in a musical sense. [Read more...]

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Visualizing Major Causes of Death in the 20th Century

Tuesday 03.19.2013 , Posted by

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I recently had the pleasure of attending a talk by the provocative philosopher John Gray as he discussed his new book – The Silence of Animals: On Progress and other Myths. During the engaging talk (which you can listen to here) he made a strong case for the idea that, while technology has progressed substantially over the last centuries, society and human behavior has not. Are we all just animals with mobile phones and machine guns? As we’ll see from this excellent graphic detailing the major causes of death in the 20th century, John Gray may be on to something. [Read more...]

iPhone Amplifiers Made from Recycled Instruments

Monday 03.18.2013 , Posted by

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With everything going so digital these days, it’s sometimes nice to bring a little analog charm into ones life. One creative way was thought up by Christopher Locke of Austin, Texas. Instead of designing a new speaker to plug into the iPhone, Locke has reshaped brass instruments, turning them into amplifiers. Taking salvaged trumpets, trombones and french horns, he’s made creative and beautiful pieces for the home: he calls them “Analog Tele-Phonographers.” [Read more...]

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Totally Awesome 80′s Illustrations to the Max

Sunday 03.17.2013 , Posted by

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To advertise their new miniseries, 80′s the Decade That Made Us, National Geographic commissioned the talented Adhemas Batista to make these totally tubular graphic designs. The ads, which are more colorful than a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper, appeared outside of Nat Geo’s launch party for the show at SXSW last week featuring live music by Girl Talk. The three episode miniseries, narrated by Rob Lowe, will air on Sunday, April 14th at 8pm on the Nat Geo channel and highlight the movies, music, politics, interesting fashion choices, and bulky technology that made the decade unforgettable. [Read more...]

Entertaining Typography of Famous Scientists’ names

Saturday 03.16.2013 , Posted by

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In light of National Science Day in India, Mumbai-based graphic designer Kapil Bhagat created a series of typography graphics honoring some of the most famous scientists that have lived. Whichever was that particular Scientist’s breakthrough discovery is implied in the image. Newton’s apple is substituted with an O on the ground, Galileo’s telescope is visible as an L, and the O in Edison is lit up like a light bulb. [Read more...]

Visual Bits #400 > Free Hand, Free Yourself: Typography

Saturday 03.16.2013 , Posted by

Check out your links after the jump.
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Back in Five Minutes: Exhibition of Typography

Friday 03.15.2013 , Posted by

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What better way to share a love for typography than to bring a collection of designers, typographers and illustrators together to share their work? Salon91 of Cape Town, South Africa is hosting such an event, called Back in 5 Minutes. The show, which launched February 27th, has brought a diverse range of talents together, most with typographical work specifically created for the event. [Read more...]

London Underground Posters at the Transport Museum

Friday 03.15.2013 , Posted by

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The iconic London Underground is celebrating its 150th year of operation this year. The “Tube,” which opened all the way back in 1863, still serves the city with trains packed to capacity at rush hours, shuttling people to places both central and more remote. Almost as famous as the trains themselves is the design that has sprung up alongside the long running system – so to celebrate the anniversary, the London Transport Museum is showcasing 150 Underground posters from the past. [Read more...]

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