Gardening Hardiness Zones

When planting a garden, it is best to understand which crops will preform best in different climate zones. Avant Gardening has developed the Gardening Hardiness Zones infographic for the gardener in any part of the United States.

We love the changing seasons, but we definitely miss spending time in our gardens. Every winter, we are starting to wonder when we can begin planting again. 

So, when can we get back out there? The best time for starting your garden depends on where you live. That’s why every gardener knows their USDA Plant Hardiness zone.

A hardiness zone, as defined by Wikipedia, is a “geographically defined area in which a specific category of plant life is capable of growing, as defined by climatic conditions, including its ability to withstand the minimum temperatures of the zone.” 

The USDA sets the zones based on the average annual extreme minimum temperature during a 30-year period in the past. The zones are not determined by the lowest temperature that has ever occurred or what is predicted to occur.

Know Your Hardiness Zone

So, how do you know which zone you’re in? The USDA has created a very detailed map outlining the US and how the zones are broken down. This resource is second-to-none when it comes to hardiness zones.

Once you determine in which hardiness zone you reside – and it is as simple as visiting the USDA map and clicking the mouse on your location - you can use this information to better plan your garden. 

Thanks to Deirdre for sending in the link!

Food Poisoning Outbreaks Digested

The Food Poisoning Outbreaks Digested infographic is the static graphic winner for the Food Poisoning challenge put on by Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards. Designed by Andrew Park, the infographic ranks the number of food outbreaks within different categories like specific cuisine or the toxin/pathogen. 

Using a Sankey diagram, the visualisation charts the percentage breakdown for food poisoning outbreaks by national cuisine, food type, pathogen/toxin and contributing factor where the cuisine type was known.

The diagram concludes with the “most lethal combination”, highlighting the top factors that led to an outbreak.

I thought it would add context to frame the Sankey diagram in a human body, as though it was being eaten and spreading through the body like a disease.

I really like this approach to a Sankey Diagram that breaks the original total into four different categories of data.

Starbucks Espresso Infographic Advertising

 

NOW AT STARBUCKS! The newest addition to the Starbucks menu is the Flat White. But what is the difference between The Flat white and the rest of Starbuck’s menu?

Starbucks sent this cool infographic as a content marketing piece in an email to all of their customers introducing The Flat White to their menu. The infographic visualizes the recipes for the 6 Espresso Classics. Currently available for view in most Starbucks stores around the country is an infographic that explains the differences between the styles of drinks on the menu.

The graphics in the email are actually the 3 separate images you see above, and I assume they could be changed for different people receiving the email. For example, someone else might receive an email about the Cappuccino or a different coffee flavor ad at the bottom. Good for flexibility in the emails, but bad for sharing in social media.

A product of simplicity, crafted into artistry, our baristas know that balance is key to the perfect Flat White. An extra ristretto shot ensures that it’s bolder than a latte, yet steamed milk keeps it smoother than a cappuccino. But perfection doesn’t end there—the technique for steaming and pouring the milk requires close attention as well. Steamed milk is folded into itself creating a velvety microfoam that gives the Flat White its silky texture and signature white dot.

Love the cafe-style chalkboard look, and the layered drink r recipe visualization design!

Using this infographic in an email campaign is brilliant, but I wish it had been designed to also stand on its own so it could be shared online in social media easier.

They use this design style throughout their entire espresso menu of drinks.

Thanks to Starbucks for sending the infographic to it’s customers! I put the separate pieces together below to make sharing easier!

Chef Hari Ghotra's Key Ingredients Infographics

The Garlic, Mint, Ginger and Chilli infographics are from Indian Chef Hari Ghotra’s blog. These informational infographics point out the key ingredients that are used in many Indian dishes, and discusses their benefits in a fun, engaging way.

I love the consistent design language and color scheme for each different ingredient.  Seasonality is visualized, but it’s disappointing to see some of the other statistics only shown as text. Big fonts are not data visualizations!

Thanks to Ellie for sending in the link! 

Beer Colors

Beer colors is a fun design idea that combines packaging design with beer label design, these beer label designs imitate Pantone® color chips.  Maybe more of a data visualization of colors than a true infographic, but I love it!

Concept and design based on the color of the beer. Each type of beer is associated with its corresponding Pantone color. The typeface chosen is HipstelveticaFontFamily in its bold version by José Gomes, thanks for sharing.

Designed by Spanish creative agency Txaber, this series of beer packaging labels show each brew type represented by its corresponding official color. 

Found on creativebloq and BoingBoing

Grandma's Apple Pie Infographic Recipe

Delicious and informative! The Grandma’s Apple Pie infographic from Task & Tool shares the recipe to delicious success when making apple pies as a visual, illustrated recipe!

This apple pie tastes delicious. It’s inspired by Grandma Ople’s Apple Pie. The 4.8 star rating from over 5000 reviews doesn’t lie - this recipe is fantastic. 

This is our first illustrated recipe. When I’m following recipes, I hate when I start cooking and then lose my place every time I need to find the next step on the recipe. The goal of this recipe design is to make it easier to find your place with helpful illustrations.

The other thing that bothered me is having to go from the recipe instructions to ingredients list to find the right quantity of each ingredient. Abigail designed these recipes with colored icons to help you go back and forth between the recipe design and the ingredient quantities easily.

Also, these recipes are designed to look pretty =)

Fun and delicious, a great combination! I love the use of the hand-drawn chalkboard look. It is a reminder of an old fashion teaching style with an old favorite, apple pie. Good use of color, and visuals (3D and 2D) with minimal words.

They have the TaskAndTool.com URL in the footer at the bottom, but it should include the URL to the actual infographic landing page on their site. Don’t make visitors search your site to find what they are looking for.

Thanks to Gavin for sending in the link!

Alchemy of Tea

The Alchemy of Tea infographic poster from SweeTooth Design Company maps out 15 traditional tea recipes from around the world, paying homage to the 4,000 year old beverage. Posters are available for $25 through the Kickstarter project, and will ship in November.  They have already exceeded their funding goal, so these will definitely go to print.

“Alchemy of Tea” is the first infographic illustration that depicts traditional tea recipes from around the world. It is not only a poster, but an informative recipe diagram of one of the most favorite drinks, tea.

There is a total of 15 tea recipes. Through mixing tea base with different ingredients, there are different results. What is more interesting is that simply by adding one or more ingredients, the entire recipe may becomes an entire different drink. 

Posters will be printed in Red and Black:

Found on http://www.fastcodesign.com

When Are Fruits and Vegetables in Season?

If your are an avid gardener or just prefer to know when your favorite fruits are in season, these two infographics will make your tastebuds happy with the When Are Fruits in Season? and When Are Vegetables in Season? infographics created by Greek Body Codex.

Ever wondered why sometimes your veggies taste fresh and full of flavor where other times it tastes dull and old? Some vegetables are seasonal and either don’t grow at all during certain months or don’t do well during certain times of the year. This infographic will show you when all of your favorite vegetables are in season and when they’ll taste the absolute best.

Both are good designs with a clear message.  Plotting out the calendar months in doughnut chart works nicely, and the bright colors make the overall design very visually appealing.

Thanks to Tom for sending in the link!

Hack Your Grill

Are you planning on grilling for Memorial Day? Check out the recommended cooking instructions for your meal with the Hack Your Grill infographic from Column Five.

With Memorial Day weekend right around the corner, we can’t wait to get our beer and BBQ on. But mastering the grill can be tricky, whether it’s raw veggies or red meat. To help us crack the code, we created the helpful infographic to make sure everything cooks at the right temperature and time.

Column Five created this guide to average cook times to take the guesswork out of grilling. The guide provides average times for a wide variety of beef, poultry, pork, and vegetable items you might plan on throwing on the grill this summer—all you’ll need is a watch and a meat thermometer.

An easy-to-read, clear guide to grilling times, this design does a great job of focusing on telling one story really well.

The tall format design works really for sharing online, but I would bet that many people will want to print this out as a cooking reference.  It would be nice to have a separate PDF version that breaks the design into two printable pages that readers can print out to keep near the grill.

I would recommend two things to improve the information included in the footer.  First, the sources list only shows the main URL of the sites where the data came from.  This means that any readers would have to search for the information themselves on those sites.  It would be more transparent to list the URL directly to the report or web page that shows the specific data used in the infographic.  

Second, the footer should include the URL directly to the infographic landing page on the Column Five site.  Sadly, many blogs and sites will share an infographic without appropriately linking back to the infographic landing page, and by putting the URL in the infographic itself readers will always be able to find the original.

Thanks to Column Five for sending in the infographic! 

Food & Wine Pairing Method

A great infographic for National Drink Wine Day (February 18), the Food & Wine Pairing Method is a new poster from Wine Folly that shows all of the compatible and Best wine matches for different foods and preparation methods.

See the theory of food and wine pairing in action with this easy to use chart. Then, understand the simple science behind food and wine pairing based on our basic sense of taste.

You can learn the fundamentals of how taste components like sweet, sour, spice, bitter and fat go together. Then, try pairing wine by letting the characteristics of your food suggest your wine.

Available for purchase for $24, it’s also available as a high-resolution download so you can print out your own personal poster.

The design is very clean and colorful.  The circles in the table only have two different sizes, small and larger.  There can be many small circles to show all of the compatible wines, but only one “Best” match shown with the large circle.  The multi-ingredient direction down the left side are easy to understand, but it is still a little difficult for readers to visually compare rows that are not adjacent, and far apart.