Bike To Work Week

This week is bike to work week. Why should you participate? The Bike to Work Week infographic from Fitness for Weight Loss explains the health benefits of participating as well as cost benefits!

Bike to Work Week is May 13th – 17th, 2013.

Thanks to Stephanie for sending in the link!

Your Dirty Habits Make Me Sick

We all have our habits, but some of these dirty habits may come to a shock to you. Your Dirty Habits Make Me Sick infographic from ionSwipes educates the reader on how their morning routines and work day can be full of nasty habits that will get them sick.

The isometric illustrations of the places we live and work are great, and draw in the readers.  By seeing these common places we all interact with, it makes the information and data more personal and relevant to the audience.  

However, none of the data is visualized.  Big fonts are not data visualizations, and relies on the audience to read all of the text contained in each callout.  Visualizations of the data would have communicated the information faster, attracted the reader’s attention and put it into context for the readers.

Thanks to Ashley for sending in the link!

The Water Rich vs The Water Poor

The USA is lucky to be in the top 5 countries that have annual renewable water resources. Because of this, we are very wasteful. This is considered to be “Water Rich”.  For the countires that are considered Water Poor, they do not have the wasteful luxury, in fact 88% of fatal cases are due to inadequate water access. The Water Rich vs Water Poor infographic by seametrics.com tells the story of both water rich countries and water poor countries.

While some might say gold or diamonds, as far as human life goes, water is the world’s most precious commodity.  As the world population increases, and industry continues to expand, Earth’s freshwater reserves are being stretched dangerously thin.  See the disparity in water consumption between wealthy and underdeveloped nations.

This is a good side-by-side comparison design, that has a lot of information.  Maybe too much information, because it can be overwhelming to readers.

Thanks to Ngoc for sending in the link!

Side note: There are only 5 DAYS LEFT to participate in the Cool Infographics Start 2013 Clean charity drive!  If you are able, please visit our campaign on Charity:Water and donate to the cause of providing clear, drinkable water to everyone that needs it.

Cancer in the U.S.A.

The Cancer in the US infographic addresses the current state of the country with its fight against cancer. MesotheliomaHelp.net created this infographic to inspire people to donate to help find the cure of cancer. Find an organization you would like to donate to here.

MesotheliomaHelp.net is dedicated to fighting cancer and providing helpful resources to mesothelioma patients and their caregivers. The purpose of this infographic is to share importance of us focusing on a cure for cancer and asking people to support the organizations that are working hard to find one. Please go to http://www.mesotheliomahelp.net/beat-cancer to donate to your favorite cancer charity today! 

I really like this design style and color scheme.  It keeps a serious tone overall to go with the serious topic, the visuals are simple and clear, and the story path is easy to read from top-to-bottom.  The light gray paper backgound texture also provides clear boundaries to the infographic when displayed on a white background (like this blog).  The lined up person icons to represent “1,500 people die each day” would be easier to understand with ten icons in each row.  

I like idea behind the icons and the stacked grids of squares in “Cases of Cancer by Type”, but I’m unclear as to the values being visualized.  It appears to be the percentage of deaths of of the total cases of each type of cancer, but that percentage value isn’t shown anywhere.  The rows of squares should also be ten squares across to make the visualization easier to understand.

The “Mortality from Cancer” visualization is a basic line chart, but that visual does such a great job of telling the story of the overall trend over time.  I think this particular section should have been bigger, since that data is so impressive.

The footer should include a copyright statement, and the URL to the original, full-size infographic on the MesotheliomaHelp.net site.

Thanks to Oakes for sending in the link! 

Water Changes Everything

I have heard it argued that clean water has been the single greatest medical advancement in mankind’s history.  With effects including longer lifespan, reducing diseases, reducing birth defects and generally improving health, it’s easy to undertand how important clean water is.  Water Changes Everything is an infographic promotional for the Charity Water organization.

I’ve started the “Start 2013 Clean” campaign to raise $1,000 for Charity Water from Cool Infographics readers.  Start off 2013 right, and help me support making the world a better place.

Almost a billion people live without clean drinking water. We call this the water crisis. It’s a crisis because it only starts with water — but water affects everything in life.

Health. Education. Food security. And the lives of women and children, especially.

We can end the water crisis in our lifetime. But first we have to let everyone know it’s happening. Learn how water changes everything — and share this with everyone you know. 

It was an infographic map design by John Snow in 1854 that led to the discovery that a cholera outbreak in Soho, London was geographically tied to the location of a water well.  At the time, the popular belief was that cholera was airborne, and people would become sick by breathing “bad air.”  But John Snow’s early data visualization of reported cases was used to convince local officals to shut down the potentially contaminated well (by removing the handle).  This action is commonly credited with ending the epidemic.

Original map made by John Snow in 1854. Cholera cases are highlighted in black.

Video was designed by Jonathan Jarvis, who also designed the Crisis of Credit infographic video, and the voiceover is Kristen Bell.

Found on Daily Infographic and FastCoDesign

Blood Pressure: Know Your Numbers

Being knowledgeable about your health is always helpful. Your blood pressure is no exception, 1/3 people who have strokes die because of high blood pressure. The Blood Pressure infographic created by westfieldhealth.com describes what blood pressure is, what it means, and then how to maintain a healthy blood pressure. The infographic was found on behance.net.

High blood pressure puts strain on your heart and increases your likelihood of developing health problems in the future. It is one of the most common causes of heart attacks and strokes, and is also a risk factor for heart disease, kidney disease and dementia. One in three people in the UK have high blood pressure even though just a few simple steps can help combat it. By checking your blood pressure, exercising regularly and reducing the amount of salt in your diet you can significantly lower your blood pressure and enjoy a healthier lifestyle.

The infographic provides some useful tips and advice about how you can keep your blood pressure in check.

This is a really good design with great information for people.  I wish it was a little bit easier to understand though.  A few of the data visualizations are not clearly explained.

In Blood pressure High Spots, I don’t understand what the size of each symbol on the UK map represents.  The implication is the amount of reports high blood pressure cases, but the values are not shown.  I don’t understand the right circle at all.  The percentage numbers seem to be spread on a map, but it’s not the UK, and I don’t recognize it.

In Looking After your Blood Pressure, I think this diagram is completely artistic, even though it seems to imply that it’s a data visualization.

In A Guide to Blood Pressure Levels, the area chart seems to be a visualization over time of some sort, but no x-axis values are shown, so the readers can’t tell what this chart means.

Thanks to Luke for sending in the link!

Eat Like A Caveman With The Paleo Diet

The Paleo Diet infographic from DrVita.com shows readers what it would take to eat like a caveman!

For those of you who keep asking yourself, “is there a diet that is right for me?” There are hundreds of diets to pick and choose from. One popular diet is Paleo. Below is Paleo in a nutshell.

The paleo diet, sometimes referred to the caveman diet is based on the diet of ancient humans. Getting nutrients from vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, meats, and fish, this diet helps you achieve a healthy and nutritious diet. This infographic helps you understand why the paelo diet is healthy, what foods to eat and avoid, and how it works. Give it a try and see if this diet is right for you.

The design is a good, short explanation of the Paleo Diet, and what it would take eat only natural foods like our ancestors.  Intuitively it makes sense, since processed foods and grains are a relatively recent discovery in the history of mankind.

Mostly just a visual explanation, there are a couple statistics included that would have have been better if they had been represented as data visualizations.  The footer should include both a copyright statement and the URL directly to the original, full-size infographic so readers can find the high-resolution version.

Thanks to Mat for sending in the linK!

Comparing Hurricane Disasters: Sandy vs. Katrina

Comparing Disasters: Sandy vs. Katrina from The Huffington Post does a good job of clearly walking through the data to put the two mega-storm hurricanes into perspective.  Designed by Tim Wallace and Jaweed Kaleem, 

Over 100 people have died in the U.S. alone so far from Hurricane Sandy, and concerns are mounting that with hundreds of thousands still without power in frigid temperatures, the death toll will continue to climb. As the East Coast examines the destruction, comparisons have been made to other catastrophic storms.

Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005, killed over 1,800 people and cost nearly $125 billion. Both storms were deadly, destructive and devastating to the thousands who lost their homes and livelihoods. View the infographic below to see how they compare by the numbers.

Editor’s note: This infographic has been updated to to reflect new and more comprehensive data on the number of people displaced or who will potentially be displaced by Hurricane Sandy-related damage, including people in shelters and people who are not in shelters but have had to leave their homes.

This infographic design does a great job using simple data visualizations to compare the two hurricanes with visual styles that are quick and easy for the reader to understand.  I’m especially impressed with the effective use of the grid of squares visualization method.  Although normally used in blocks of 100 to show percentages, they are stacked in this design to show quantitative comparisons.  They correctly kept each row to only 10 squares, which many designers get wrong.  Our number system is base-10, so it’s incredibly easy for us to understand visuals that are stack of 10 objects.

I also appreciate that they varied the visuals to appropriately match the type of data being shown.  So, circles to show diameter, map locations to show areas effected and stacked bars are all used along with the grid of squares method.

The overall design has a white background, with no border, so when shown on a webpage that also has a white background, it’s hard to see where the infographic stops.  I usually recommend some type of background color or frame to help the infographic stand out on its own.

At the bottom, a couple elements are missing.  A Copyright or Creative Commons claim, and the URL for readers to find the original, full-size version when they see the infographic shared on other sites.

Obamacare: The Price of Socialized Medicine

The big news in the public health field in the U.S. is Obamacare. In response to its passing, Master of Public Health.org created The Price of Socialized Medicine: Obamacare’s Unconstitutionality by the Numbers infographic to give insight into how it will affect everyone.

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, in a landmark 5-4 decision. Unfortunately, they got it wrong. The PPACA, known colloquially as Obamacare, should have been struck down by the high court, as it is both unconstitutional and very costly:

• Individual Mandate: Obamacare requires that all Americans carry health insurance or face an annual penalty. The federal government is effectively compelling individual citizens to enter a market, which is a clear violation of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. The Supreme Court ruled that this was constitutionally valid as within Congress’ taxing power.
• Medicaid Expansion: As the original Act is written, the PPACA would require states to expand Medicaid support or risk having their entire Medicaid federal funding cut off. This infringes on states’ rights. Fortunately, the Supreme Court did rule against these sanctions.

In response to the ruling, we have produced an infographic titled, “The Cost of Socialized Medicine: Obamacare’s Unconstitutionality by the Numbers”, which illustrates the folly of the PPACA as well as some of the costs that will be borne as a result.

Obviously, this design is promoting a specific opinion, but we’re here to discuss the infographic design itself.

• The design outlines a really good step-by-step story top-to-bottom, and summarizes the data behind their point of view clearly
• Good mix of illustrations and data visualization within each section.
• In general, there’s WAY too much text in the design.  They want to be thorough in their explanations, but this much text will turn away many readers from reading the infographic at all.  Also, most of the text is too small to read on their landing page.  Less text would have been more effective, and allowed for a larger font.
• The timeline looks like events along the heartbeat axis, but they aren’t spaced out appropriately to match their dates.
• I like the icon representation of the justices.  Just enough detail to be recognizable.
• Clear, easy to understand map of the costs to each state in the country map
• The sizes of the circles in the Cost of Obamacare section are close, but not quite accurately representing the dollar figures shown.  Some are larger than they should be, and a couple are smaller.  Almost like the sizes were eye-balled instead of calculated mathematically.  Odd.
• The states that have filed lawsuits would be easier to understand if the colored states were still placed within the map of the U.S.
• Good list of sources
• Need a copyright statement and the URL to the original infographic landing page for readers that find the infographic posted on the Internet to be able to find the original.

Thanks to Jimmy for sending in the link!

American Sugar Consumption

OnlineNursingPrograms.com visually shows the readers that they are eating WAY too much sugar with the American Sugar Consumption infographic. It is an eye opener to see how much more we are consuming than the recommended amount and that it can be harmful for us.  It is even going to be difficult to cut back, because sugar is as addictive as cocaine!

 The consumption of sugar will always be an issue for nutritionists and health buffs everywhere. As long as sugar remains a large part of the American diet, we will continue to hear about all the negative effects sugar can have on the body. As someone who is studying nursing, it’ll be important to understand how the overconsumption of sugar may cause many health problems in the future. Many may ask: Is this concern exaggerated? Absolutely not. Sugar is in everything and it has contributed to the growing obesity epidemic in the United States. Since 1990, sugar intake has increased by 40 lbs a year. Is it a coincidence that the obesity rate has increased by 20 percent? As a nurse, you will see many cases in which a reduction of sugar intake could have gone a long way to ensuring less visits to the hospital. It’ll be important as a nurse to educate your patients on why sugar is bad and why they should limit their consumption of sugar. This infographic will show you just how getting your daily sugar fix may be contributing to many short term and long term health issues.

This is a great infographic design.  It’s eye-catching, and uses data visualizations to put the statistical values into context for the readers.  I like the simple color scheme, the use of piles of sugar (like the wheelbarrow and the dumpster) and the real world objects used to provide scale (soda cans and gallon jugs).

Only a couple things I would suggest to improve the design:

• The average adult easts 22 teaspoons of sugar per day, but the visualization shows 24
• The average child eats 32 teaspoons of sugar per day, but 33 spoons are shown in the visualization
• The URL link to the original infographic landing page should be in the footnotes

Thanks to Emily for sending in the link!