The Evolution of the Web

The Evolution of the Web is a cool, interactive visualization from the Google Chrome team (along with Hyperakt and Vizzuality) that explores the evolution of web browsers over the last 20 years.

Over time web technologies have evolved to give web developers the ability to create new generations of useful and immersive web experiences. Today’s web is a result of the ongoing efforts of an open web community that helps define these web technologies, like HTML5, CSS3 and WebGL and ensure that they’re supported in all web browsers.

The color bands in this visualization represent the interaction between web technologies and browsers, which brings to life the many powerful web apps that we use daily.

Clicking on any of the browser icons brings up a cool visual history of the window design for each version.

Although there is a lot of data showning the version releases along the timeline, part of this design is just pretty.  The flowing colored bands seems to grow bigger over time implying increased usage of each technology, but their placement behind the broser lines doesn’t actual show which technologies were used by each browser. 

In fact, there’s a subtle marketing spin that has all of the lines converging behind the Google Chrome logo in 2008 and then exploding into the future.  And the HTML5 line seems to imply that it will take over the Internet in 2012.

Found on Flowing Data.

The Genealogy of U.S. Airlines

A new infographic poster designed by Larry Gormley at HistoryShots.com!  The Genealogy of U.S. Airlines visualizes over 90 years or corporate history of airline mergers, acquisitions and closures.  Over 100 different airlines have consolidated down the seven shown still in existence today. 

The carriers are color coded and line widths represent market share for any particular year.

Over its short history, the US airline industry has experienced many dynamic phases of expansion and consolidation. From its origins in the 1920s, when air mail carriers started to transport passengers, to the creation (with the not so gentle prodding of the government) of the Big Four (American, United, TWA, and Eastern), from the rise of the local service carriers to deregulation and the most recent wave of mergers and acquisitions, the industry continues to fascinate both the casual traveler and the aviation buff.

The purpose of this graphic is to uncover and explain how the industry was created and how it arrived at its present form. At the core is a full genealogy of over 100 US airlines from the major airlines to the small local service carriers. Folded into the genealogy is the relative market share of passenger traffic for each airline. This allows the viewer to understand how the industry was controlled for many decades by the Big Four and how this dominance was quickly replaced by a number of other airlines.

You can buy a copy of the poster for $29.95 over at HistoryShots.com

The Internet of Things

Intel has designed a large infographic, The Internet of Things that explores the growing number of devices connected to the Internet since 1960 through predictions up to 2020.  (NOT to be confused with The Internet of Things infographic released by Cisco earlier this year with the same name)  High-Resolution PDF version, additional information and the data files are available here.

The Internet is evolving, again. Every day, billions of people connect to the Internet through billions of devices – PCs, smartphones and TVs to name just a few. While the PC remains at the centre of this evolution, Internet connectivity is now embedded into cars, fitness equipment, factory robots and vending machines. This smarter, connected world has the potential to change how we live.

We’re entering a new phase of Internet evolution. It is expanding much more rapidly than it has done in the last decade. Increasing numbers of everyday appliances are connecting to the Internet, their environment and to each other. Cars, fitness equipment, factory robots, retail signage and vending machines are becoming ‘smart’ thanks to tiny embedded computer processors and sensors, just like those in your laptop or mobile phone.

I have mixed feelings about this one.  It’s visually attractive, and would make a really nice printed poster.  The data is valuable and interesting, apparently gathered from a large number of disparate sources, but the URL listed at the bottom to view the sources didn’t work for me.

However, all of the colored lines aren’t actually connecting any events or actually combining to create a visualization of the values on the left side of the page.  While it visually implies the growing connections to the Internet and complexity, it doesn’t have any connection to the actual data.

I like the circle diagram at the bottom of the growing millions of PCs sold every day, but the “80% of of all PCs shipped today have Intel Inside” turned a fun, informative infographic into an ad and could turn off some readers.

Thanks to Emma for sending in the link!

Google in 2011: Courtroom & Boardroom

Google in 2011: Courtroom & Boardroom is a new infographic from Search Influence.  At it’s heart, this is a timeline history of acquisition and courtroom events through the first nine months of 2011, but there is a lot going on here.

Events are laid out in a psuedo-calendar format for each month, flagged by country and shaded to indicate win or loss.  The change in stock price is also shown for the actual day of each event, but even though this implies the event’s impact to stock price, there are always many more factors driving price changes.  Events are connected by colored lines to indicate on-going events and the related division of Google’s business.

I hope they keep evolving this design.  In it’s current state, it’s a little hard to follow, but I love the multiple layers of data represented.  This design could evolve to be more easily readable, and even be applied to other companies as well.

Thanks to Matt for sending in the link!

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.

Cycling Injuries Revealed Infographic

From the Christensen Law Firm comes the Cycling Injuries Revealed infographic.

From an infographic design standpoint, there are both things I really like and don’t like about this one. 

• I like that the Most Common Injuries statistics are placed around the rider right near the appropriate area of the body, but I don’t like that the clouds are different sizes with no relation to the percentage values.
• I love the pie charts in the bicycle wheels, but the text is too small to read.
• I like the use of street signs for the surrounding figures, but they have too much text and those statisitics could have been visualized.  The bicycle rider icons in the Stop Sign are a good example of how the rest of the signs should have been designed.
• Even the road and sky color in the background helps to make this infographic stand out on a white background nicely.
• I love that there is a large, center visual that focuses the readers attention on the primary information.

Thanks to Jake for sending me the link!

OUTBREAK: Deadliest Pandemics in History

OUTBREAK: Deadliest Pandemics in History is a cool collaboration between GOOD magazine and Column Five Media.

From the Black Death to the measles, rapidly spreading diseases have taken a toll on humanity for centuries. Here’s a look at the biggest and deadliest pandemics ever.

I like the circles for each disease sized to the death toll, and illustrated to look like a virus molecule.  I can’t tell if the extra design elements around the circumference of the circles are part of the circle size or not.  The readers’ eyes see the area of each circle to represent it’s relative death toll compared to the others, but looking at the Measles circle, which radius do you see as the size of the circle?  The solid black line or the outer reaches of the appendages?  I think arguments could be made both ways.

Although I personally don’t like legends, the hexagons to indicate all of the different symptoms of each disease work nicely.  The shape implies scientific information, and the designer spend some time designing icons for each symptom.

This design works very well as an informative piece, and is clear to the reader to understand.  This one will probably have a long online lifespan.

Found on Visual News.

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

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.