Client Infographic: Sudan, Bombing Everything That Moves

Sometimes, you get the opportunity to work on a project with a very serious topic and global relevance.  Recently, InfoNewt (my company) worked with Prof. Eric Reeves and designer Mike Wirth to design the infographic Bombing Everything That Moves (hosted on Eric’s site SudanBombing.org). 

For well over a decade the Government of Sudan—the National Islamic Front/National Congress Party (NIF/NCP) regime in Khartoum—has engaged in a sustained campaign of deliberate aerial military attacks on civilian and humanitarian targets in both South and North Sudan. These attacks have been only fitfully condemned by the international community, and no effective action has been taken to halt them.

Obviously, the topic is very political.  Prof. Reeves has published an extensive report and makes his Excel data file available to everyone on his site, so I’ll keep my comments focused on the unique challenges we faced when designing the infographic.

The data for this visualization is much different that the readily available Internet stats we see every day.  There is no database to query or reseach data file to purchase.  The exhaustive work Prof. Reeves has done to manually consolidate these confirmed bombing attack reports from U.N. observers, humanitarian aid personnel, radio reports and news reports is a massive, ongoing effort.

Even though the number of attacks in the report was known, most reports had unknown numbers for casualties and the number of bombs used in the attack.  Because of that, the bar chart-style visualization that is the center of the design only shows the number of attacks (a solid number we could work with) and separately shows the average numbers of bombs and casualties from the reports that had that information available.

Data transparency is always important.  As an infographic, the data sources have to be very transparent becuase you want your audience talking about the implications of your information, not challenging your credibility.

Eric Reeves is Professor of English Language and Literature at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. He has spent the past twelve years working full-time as a Sudan researcher and analyst, publishing extensively both in the US and internationally. He has testified several times before the Congress, has lectured widely in academic settings, and has served as a consultant to a number of human rights and humanitarian organizations operating in Sudan.

Due to the nature of this infographic, please keep any comments on the infographic design itself.  Any inflamatory or political comments will be removed based on my judgement.

The Science of Salary

Salary Science builds on the information from Jim Hopkinson’s book, Salary Tutor, and the SalaryTutor.com site.  Designed by Shaun Sanders, the infographic is not actually from the book.  Instead, it shares information that goes above and beyond the book, as a great way to build awareness and help promote the book.

Jim has also published an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the making of the infographic on his blog: How to create a viral infographic to market your brand.  You learn about his planning process, the infographic design cycle that Shaun goes through and see early images of the infographic taking shape.

I really appreciate some of the design choices they made along the way, and think the infographic is a super way to attract interest and promote Jim’s brand.  If you’re interested, here’s a link to the book on Amazon as well.  A must-read in my library.

Recruit-O-Graphic

What a great idea!  Kite Consultants designed this infographic job posting, Recruit-O-Graphic, as an innovative way to visualize the job requirements and to show some aspects of working for Kite.  What would have been a long, wordy job posting is now fun and easy to read.  You also get a great sense of the company culture and attitude.

I’m definitely doing something like this for InfoNewt when it’s time to recruit!

Thanks to Sebastiaan for sending in the link!

Students vs. Prisoners infographic

Nice, clean, simple infographic design.  Students vs. Prisoners by the law firm Buckfire & Buckfire in Michigan visually communicates one message really well: In Michigan, the average spending per prisoner is close to three times that spent per student.

Potentially a controversal budget topic in Michigan, I appreaciate that they clearly listed the link to the data source.  A couple things I would change about this design:

• Visualize the total spending dollars that are currently listed at the the bottom in text
• I like the use of a chalkboard style font, but it’s not used consistently throughout the design
• For the benefits listed in the middle, I think it would be more interesting to show how much each one contributed to the total spending per prisoner

Thanks to Larry for sending me the link!

The Art and Science of S'mores

I love this cool infographic from REI, The Art and Science of S’mores. 

 A group of REI sweet tooths has put together what is perhaps the definitive infographic on s’mores. Check it out, and share it with your camping buddies. We’re betting The Art and Science of S’mores will make your next campground outing just that much more interesting.

This is a fantastic example of designing an infographic to be informative about a fun, interesting subject related to your brand.  Very shareable in social media channels, and it doesn’t feel like an REI ad.  You don’t have to be an outdoor enthusiast to enjoy the topic either, so the audience is a very wide array of people.  Even my 11 year old son loved it!

Found on Visual News.

The Crayon-Bow, Crayola Color Chart updated

I’m not sure how I missed this, but the designer know as Velociraptor has updated his original Crayola Color Timeline that I posted about last year, into the the new Crayon-Bow (half rainbow - half rising sun).

The original was a square, straightforward representation, but the colors in the later years were shown in very small slices are hard to see.

A number of other visual layouts were tried, but the arc style visual not only allowed the colors from the later years to be easier to see, but the original eight colors pointing inwards look like the tips of brand new crayons as well.

I love the new version.  Found on Twitter: @printmag, @wired, @awaaza

Client Infographic: Making an Organic Choice

Making an Organic Choice from So Nice is a new infographic by InfoNewt and designer Jeremy Yingling.  This one tells the story in numbers of how organic food processing is better for you and the environment compared to conventional food processing.

We are what we eat, goes the old adage.

So Nice is committed to your health and that of the environment, which is why we use only certified organic, non-genetically modified organism (GMO) whole soybeans grown from environmentally responsible farming operations.  Below, we’ve contrasted only some of the data surrounding conventional and organic farming to help you learn about your food and beverages.

Without being preachy, using an infographic presents the data in a way that their potential customers can easily understand and use to make informed decisions.  They not only posted it online, but So Nice is also using it as a printed, informational poster at trade shows as a conversation piece with visitors to the booth.

You can follow So Nice on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/So-Nice/77766940782

35 Years of Apple Products - Visual History

From Mashable come The Apple Tree, a visual, iconic timeline 35 years of Apple product releases.  Designed by Mike Vasilev (@mvasilev on Twitter).

When it comes to industrial design, few consumer electronics or computer makers have the legacy or influence of Apple, Inc. In the last 35 years, Apple has introduced a myriad of products and devices, some very successful, some, not so much.

Artist Mike Vasilev created this infographic for Mashable, highlighting the major Apple product releases and design changes from 1976 through 2011.

I love how recognizeable all of the product illustrations are.  I’ve owned way too many of these products over the years.

Found on Social Media Graphics.

The Content Grid v2

First, The Content Grid v2 is a cool, new infographic collaboration between Eloqua and JESS3.  The infographic maps out the different ways that companies can deliver information to potential customers, how that content can effect the buying process and the different distribution channels for that information.

It’s a complex set of data, and this infographic does a fantastic job of summarizing the different tools available onto one page.  This would work as a fantastic tool to use when planning a strategy to release a new product, and choosing the different ways you could successfully reach your customers.

The Content Grid v2 picks up where its predecessor left off. Intact is the prescriptive connection between content type and distribution channel. New is the perspective of the buyer, a multi-stage purchase funnel, and a comprehensive collection of KPIs (like they say, “What isn’t measured, isn’t purchased.”). Although v2 contains significantly more information than the original, the new design is infinitely more simple. This achievement is a tribute to the unrivaled design team at JESS3 – and the clarity of client/agency communication that comes only with time and trust.

Enjoy The Content Grid v2. It’s not only the next generation of the Web’s most popular and award-winning content marketing infographic, but it’s also a how-to for marketers looking to operationalize content marketing programs.

Second, Jesse Thomas, CEO of JESS3, has posted a good “The Making of an Infographic” article on Forbes.com looking behind the scenes at the infographic design process, and sharing some of the other design options that were explored during the process.  A couple of the other designs are included above.

And finally, third, Joe Chernov has a good article about designing Planned Obsolescence into the infographic as an effective markleting practice.  Eloqua and JESS3 released the original Content Grid (above) in June of 2010 knowing it was interesting data, but not quite useful yet as a tool.

We knew the graphic was interesting visually, and we also knew it could be used by marketers. But deep down we felt that something was “off,” but we couldn’t quite put our finger on what was wrong. We could have sat in the drawing room until it was “perfect” (translation: indefinitely), but we didn’t. Instead we published the content as-is and deliberately planned to revisit it one year later.

During that time, we solicited feedback (in blog comments, on Twitter, from colleagues, even from the audience at speaking engagements) and preserved all comments in a spreadsheet. By provoking widespread feedback (positive and negative), we were deliberately rendering obsolete the infographic we had worked so hard to develop.

A fascinating look at how infographics are made and used as effective marketing tools.

Bye Bye Space Shuttle infographic

I really like An Uncertain Future, a tribute infographic for the Space Shuttle program’s last launch of Atlantis scheduled for Friday.

Designed by Alberto Cuadra for the Washington Post

Last week I published what could be my very last Space Shuttle infographic. As a space exploration enthusiast and a professional visual artist, NASA’s spacecraft will be sorely missed. Over the years, the Shuttle was the focal point in many of the most fun projects I’ve been involved, directly or indirectly.

I really like the arc timeline.  Not only is it a different design than you usually see, but it also indirectly implies the flight paths of the shuttles up into space and back down to Earth.

Found on Visual Loop