We simply love these hand drawn graphics based on quotes from literary and science greats. Each is an insightful look into the nature of humans and the nature of the universe. Produced as part of an ongoing series called Illuminating Quotes, Visualised by Maggie Appleton, each is a window into wisdom from around the world. [Read more...]
With the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, people in their shock are inevitably asking: “why?” Why did such a horrible event happen? What triggered a young boy to cause such harm to other children? Invariably the fingers begin to point towards, among other things: access to guns, mental illness, family troubles, isolation and, inevitably, playing violent video games. This last potential culprit has become a standard for those looking to find answers on why these awful events continue to happen, mainly in the US. The Washington Post recently produced a series of graphics, however, that cast serious doubt on the connection between playing video games and gun murders. [Read more...]
What defines a comeback? By most accounts, it’s overcoming apparently insurmountable odds stacked against success, pushing through all boundaries, and dramatically trouncing the competition. In sports, figures like Lance Armstrong and George Foreman come to mind… while in the celebrity world people like Mickey Rourke and Robert Downey Jr. could top the list. But, what if that comeback came from an internet browser? [Read more...]
This highly informative and interactive graphic looks at the ups and downs of the successful American companies on the Fortune 500 list, all the way back to 1955. It’s been a wild and exciting ride. Ben Fry, the pieces creator, was inspired to create the graphic when he ran across a huge set of data tracking the famous index: he challenged himself to come up with a way of displaying those 84,000 data points in an easily viewed and navigated interactive piece. We think he did an excellent and informative job.
Tracked in the graphic are: rank on the list, revenue and profit. One interesting thing to notice is the clear effects of recession on some companies profits (as seen in Ford Motors below), while other companies are largely unaffected by the dips of the economy. Head over to Fathom, Fry’s information design company, to get a closer look at the graphic. [Read more...]
Just how long do people in your country live and how long do they take for retirement? Life expectancy varies from country to country as does the length we reserve towards the end. This side by side comparison reveals that Austrians can expect many free twilight years, while many Mexicans are getting none.
If you’ve ever wondered what the most popular letters are in the world, a good indicator would be what people search on Google. Smäll, a Barcelona based design firm, has put together a clear look at the popularity of each letter based on just that. Not too surprising the letter “a” tops the ranks and leaves J as the least popular letter. Now, if we could just re-order our keyboards based on these findings we’d type at hyper-speed.
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Han Rosling uses animated pixels on a graph to demonstrate the immense changes that can happen over two centuries. In the BBC feature titled 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes, we see how life expectancy and wealth have changed across the world year by year since 1810. The Joy of Stats animation shows the effects of devastating moments in history such as [Read more...]
