Infographic Dreams: Sorry Neville You’re Wrong
Geekyness is something I’m not ashamed of especially when it involves beautiful design. I watched BBC2′s Newsnight last night with David McCandless (author of ‘Information is Beautiful’) and Neville Brody (Graphic Designer, Typographer, Art Director). Brody and McCandless were chatting with Kirsty about the rise in popularity of ‘Infographics‘ or ‘Data Visualisations’ as they are sometimes referred to. David McCandless believes that this information can help us understand the world and is a tool to aid demogracy.
I’m a massive fan of Neville Brody who inspired the young graphic designer in me, many years ago. However I was quite surprised Brody’s hostility to the idea of data visualisation. Brody seemed to liken infographics as nothing more than aesthetic wallpaper – a dumbing down of statistics and information for popular culture.
Hang on a minute…isn’t it the job of a graphic designer, typographer, art director to take complex information and make it understandable and palatable? Imagine a world without design? Imagine the shelves of a bookshop without beautifully designed eye-catching covers. If a medical textbook has a pretty cover and simplified illustrations does it become nothing more than an object of design? A dumbing down of it’s content? Mr Brody haven’t you made your name and living simplifying information and putting it into a visual context for consumers?
Anyway, data vis might just be a passing fad but I love it. I’ve never been more excited by stats and numbers and when I’m presenting to or training clients, visually representing data has been far more successful at getting my point across than black text on a white page/screen. So there Mr Brody (but I still love your work).
Looking at my Soda Streams this morning here’s the latest in the world of Infographic news to whet your data visualisation appetite.
The Times Does Infographics for IPads – The Times have commissioned London design agency Applied Studios to create highly engaging interactive charts and graphs for its iPad edition.
Designing an Easier to Read NYC Subway Map- Designer Eddie Jabbour took his frustrations of the NYC Subway Map and put his energy into redesigning it. Jabbour put it up in the Apple Store as ‘KickMap’, so that people could at least make use of his map on their iPhone. So far, a quarter of a million of people have downloaded it (after it was rejected by the MTA).
Pakistan Flood Aid Pledged Infographic, Country by Country – Floods have decimated Pakistan: the number of people suffering could exceed 13 million. This infographic visualises which countries have donated hard cash. The UN figures show that at the moment, the major donor is the UK – with over $7m. (However funds per head of their populations means many other countries are ahead.)
Still think data vis is just pretty wallpaper?
