UN Against Corruption infographic video

This UN Against Corruption infographic video is actually a highlights overview of a six-part video series from the UNCAC (UN Convention against Corruption) Coalition.  This video does a good job of showing how corruption impacts societies, escpecially in third world countries.  You can view the complete series at http://www.uncaccoalition.org/en/uncac-review/uncac-review-mechanism.html

Highlights of the six-part suite of 2D infographics videos commissioned by Transparency International in collaboration with UNODC. This video infographic uses animated typography and simple, iconic animated graphics and pictograms to explain the effects of corruption on society. It also incorporates a short segment of live-action video, embedded within the context of iconic elements. It provides a compelling and fast-paced tutorial for organisations and activists on how to bring pressure to bear on governments to more effectively fight corruption.

Credits:

• art direction: mariano leotta
• motion graphics: alessandra leone
• sound design: ex-directory
• sound mixing: enrico anicito guido
• voice over: tom tucker
• shooting: luca fuscaldi
• production: artereazione.org
• commission: transparency.org

The full six-part series is now available on YouTube:

Infographics in the Wild - Submit your photos!

Infographics in the Wild is a new photo group on Flickr started by myself and Robin Richards (ripetungi.com). This photo group is open to everyone.  I post infographics from the Internet here on Cool Infographics almost every day, but there are many, many more examples to be found IRL (in real life) on signs, products, stores, airports, restaurants, etc.  We are asking you to submit any photos of infographics found “in the wild”.

Back in September, Robin posted about Infographics in the wild #1 that he had found around his location in the UK, and we started talking about the idea of starting a photo group where anyone could submit a photo.

I have set the requirement in Flickr that any submitted photos include a geo-tag location so we can also visualize all of the photo locations on the map - just because we all like seeing stuff like that!

The Value of Data Visualization [video]

The Value of Data Visualization is a cool motion graphic used as an advertisement for infographic design services from our friends at Column Five Media.  The short video does a really good job of showing the viewer a few good examples of why visual information can be easier to comprehend.

They say knowledge is power, but how do we make knowledge powerful? The challenge of communicating information becomes especially difficult when trying to convey a message full of complex data, which is often difficult to interpret quickly and clearly to the naked eye. This motion graphic looks at some of the many visual techniques used by Column Five to communicate information effectively to a large audience.

 The video is now also available on YouTube:

The Blog Tree: New Growth infographic and Q&A

Eloqua and JESS3 have partnered again to design The Blog Tree: New Growth (building on the success of the original Blog Tree infographic project from last year).  The new version focuses on new blogs from the last few years (INCLUDING Cool Infographics!) and uses the Edelman BlogLevel as the scoring system (a ranking system I hadn’t heard of before). They are also using SlideShare.net as an embedded PDF viewer so you can interact with the clickable version that takes you to any of the blogs by clicking on any particular leaf.

The Blog Tree: New Growth

View more documents from Eloqua

A couple things worth mentioning about the project:

• The clickable version is available on SlideShare.net or as a downloadable PDF file.
• They are using Facebook photos in a unique way.  They are asking anyone interested in being a part of the next version to “Like” the Eloqua page and tag themselves in the image of this year’s Blog Tree.
• They’ve added the concept of site badges this year for anyone listed on the tree.  From a content stance, this is a great way to encourage long-term links from influencial blogs.

From the Eloqua blog post:

We’re calling today’s visual is The Blog Tree: New Growth edition because it celebrates a very important group of bloggers. New ones.  All gene pools benefit from healthy DNA, and if the blogosphere is going to continue to evolve, it’s important that new voices are heard. The Blog Tree: New Growth cheers about 60 active, insightful blogs launched (or significantly re-engineered) after January 1, 2009.  It’s truly a collection of the freshest voices on the Web.

After combing through the feedback we received on the original Blog Tree, we made two significant changes in this version:

1. Interactivity: Today’s infographic is interactive. Every leaf links to the corresponding blog. Interactivity was a popular request in the wake of last year’s visual, and when we shared a draft with the bloggers featured on the New Growth version, they too asked for it. The result is an infographic that fulfills its promise of making it easier for you to discover blogs we think you’ll love.
   
   
2. (Much) Better Ranking System: Last year’s version looked only at Web traffic, and we received a bit of pushback on that ranking model. So we turned to one of the world’s most reliable sources of trust and influence: Edelman. We used Edelman’s BlogLevel tool as our sole data supplier because it gave us the most holistic view of each blog’s relative influence, popularity, engagement and trustworthiness.

I asked Joe Chernov, VP of Content Marketing at Eloqua, a few questions about the project:

Cool Infographics: You’ve partnered with JESS3 on a number of infographic projects now.  What do you see as the biggest benefit of designing infographics as online content?

Joe Chernov: Marketing today is all about having strong “fast twitch” muscles. It’s about creating content, lots and in rapid succession, that appeals to viewers with short attention spans. It’s a hell of a challenge, especially for a business-to-business technology company, like Eloqua, whose story typically takes a little longer to tell. The benefit of an infographic is that it’s like a Trojan Horse: The visual captures attention, giving the marketer time to convey a message.

Cool Infographics: What did you learn from the original Blog Tree that changed how this one was designed?

Joe Chernov: We learned what worked. It’s funny, in “post-mortem” meetings, companies often focus on what didn’t work. But it’s also important to inspect what did work. When we released the original Blog Tree, I hesitated. I thought people might accuse it of being too high concept or pandering. Neither accusation was made. My hope was that the public recognized that we put thought into the selection, that it was truly a meritocracy. So what we learned going into the New Growth edition is that the key to success was found in the quality of the curation. Sure there were some improvements that needed to be made at the margins. Using traffic as the sole metric was a ridiculous oversimplification — and one that was 100% my fault — and, as you pointed out insightfully, the leaves absolutely should link through to more content, preferably the blogs themselves. So we made those changes.

Cool Infographics: What would you tell companies considering infographics as part of their marketing strategy?

Joe Chernov: Respect the medium. Simply calling a bunch of Excel line graphs and bar charts an infographic doesn’t make it one. Stuff like this (http://blog.marketo.com/blog/2011/09/attention-b2b-marketers-embrace-the-mobile-web.html), I believe, damages the medium because it eliminates art and nuance, which are essential elements of a good infographic. Before we publish any infographic I ask myself, “What would David McCandless (http://www.davidmccandless.com/) say if he saw this? Would I be proud to show it to him?” Try to be an ambassador for the medium, because it’s under duress.

Cool Infographics: I had never heard of the Edelman BlogLevel before.  Why did you use that as your blog metric in the design?

Joe Chernov: We needed a better metric than the simple traffic data that we used to grade blogs in the original Blog Tree. Not only was that metric one-dimensional, it was also a poor measure of the quality of a new blog, which we were trying to highlight in the New Growth version we just released. After all, it takes a while to build up traffic to a blog. So we looked for a multidimensional blog “grader” from a trusted, independent source. Edelman and trust are synonymous, at least in the communications world. And their BlogLevel tool evaluates much more than traffic. It looks at engagement and the soft science of trust. I have also collaborated with David Armano, one of Edelman Digital’s leaders, in the past so I welcomed the chance to partner with him again.

Cool Infographics: In your opinion, why do blogs continue to be relevant online?

Joe Chernov: Because this is the era of transparency. Buyers want to know, really know, who they are doing business with. The blog, or at least should be, a window into the organization.

Also, check out Joe’s presentation about infographics that he gave at this year’s Content Marketing World conference, and available on SlideShare:

Infographics in 15 Minutes

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10 Infographics and Visualization Apps for iOS

As infographics continue to evolve and grow in popularity, so do the different ways we can view them.  A bunch of infographic specific apps have begun showing up on mobile devices. The functions of these apps include viewing world statistics, infographic design portfolios, company dashboards, creating mind maps, finding new apps and exploring your music collection visually.

Today we look at 10 Infographic Apps for iOS devices (in no particular order):

1. Stats of the Union  (FREE)

(iPad ONLY)

Stats of the Union is a data visualization app from Ben Fry, Fathom Information Design and GE.  Summarizing the census data by county, you can easily explore Births, Deaths, Diseases, Demographics, etc.

Explore the nation’s vital signs―from life expectancy to access to medical care―and make your own conclusions about America’s health. See a stat you’d like to share? Save it as a snapshot.

Stats of the Union is powered by the Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI) report, which consists of data from federal agencies including the Census Bureau, Department of Health & Human Services, Department of Labor and the Environmental Protection Agency.

2. Photo Stats ($0.99)

(iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)

A very cool app from Dear Future Astronaut AB.  The Photo Stats app analyzes all of the photos on your iDevice and creates 11 different personal visualizations using the meta data of the photos.  Then, with the click of a button, it will combine these data visualizations into one cohesive infographic that you can save or post directly to Facebook or Twitter.

Create cool infographics about how, when and where you take photos on iPhone. Visualize your iPhoneography habits, learn how to make better photos and show off photo skills to your friends.

3. Discovr Apps ($0.99)

(iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)

Discovr Apps is a great, interactive mind map of related iOS apps, and works as a discovery tool to find new apps.  Starting with one of your exisiting apps, the recommended apps or using the search, the app shows you related apps.  Tap any of the to expand the related apps, and continue to explore deeper into any app displayed on the screen.

The author, Jammbox, has applied this same exploration user interface to Music with Discovr Music ($1.99) to find similar music and artists.

Simply search for an app that you like or choose from one of our featured apps. We’ll show you how the apps you choose are connected in a massive, never-ending map of the App Store, and we’ll give you great recommendations for other apps to download. 

When you find an app you like you can read the app descriptions, check out the screenshots and ratings, or buy it directly from the App Store. You can also share your favorite apps and maps with your friends via Twitter, Facebook or email.

4. Infographics, by Column Five Media (FREE)

(iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)

From the infographic design firm, Column Five Media, the Infographics app is a visual portfolio showcasing many of their designs.  I love the coverflow mode when you view the list in landscape.

We have really appreciated everyone who is staying connected through our Infographics newsletter, and we are happy to bring fresh infographics to you for the iPad and iPhone with our brand new Infographics app, which you can download for free. If you have a chance to check it out on an iPad, that is definitely the way to go for the best browsing experience, but the iPhone version will give you some mobile eye candy as well. This is version 1.0 and there are a lot of new features in the works along with a version for Droid coming soon.

5. The Economist World in Figures 2011 Edition ($0.99)

(iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)

From a collaboration between The Economist and XPLANE | Dachis Group, comes The World in Figures 2011 Edition.  This app lets the user view global data and compare world statistics between countries.

“The process definitely challenged our designers, making us consider new ways to enhance functionality around how data was being presented, while also fostering intuitive interaction between the user and the application,” said Parker Lee, executive vice president, global account services, Dachis Group. “The end result really does put a new face on information.”

6. MindMeister for iPad ($7.99) or MindMeister for iPhone (FREE)

(iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)

MindMeister started as an online mind mapping service that allows you to build, collaborate and share mind maps online.  With the iOS apps you can access your online maps and edit them from your mobile device.  Works with a free MindMeister account, but more features are available to members of MindMeisterPro.

Easily create, view and edit conceptual mind maps from this intuitive app, and then share them with friends and colleagues online. Automatic synchronization with the online MindMeister service ensures that your creations are with you wherever you go. This sync allows you to continue working on your ideas in our award-winning and full-featured web interface, on your own or together with your friends.

 7. Planetary (FREE)

(iPad ONLY)

Planetary is a very cool app that visualizes your entire music library (as loaded on your iPad) as a galaxy.  Stars are artist, planets are albums and moon are individual tracks.  You can playback the tracks from the app, so it also makes a good visualizer.  They even did the calculations to base each moon’s speed on it’s track length, so when you play a song it lasts one complete orbit.  There a lot more behind the scenes information on the Bloom Blog.

Planetary is an all-new, stunningly beautiful way to explore your music collection, available only on iPad. Fly through a 3D universe dynamically created by information about the recording artists you love. Visit planets that represent your favorite albums and control the playback of your music on iPad by browsing and selecting astronomical objects.

8. Adobe SiteCatalyst Visualize (FREE*)

(iPad ONLY)

This only works if you are an existing Adobe SiteCatalyst customer (which isn’t free), but if you are, the Adobe SiteCatalyst Visualize app will allow you to explore your web stats in a handful of different, visual ways.

Adobe SiteCatalyst Visualize enables active data exploration via trend analysis of key metrics. Business analysts and marketers can use “multi-touch” capabilities to zoom and focus on specific data points within the last 90 days. In addition, using a visual “word cloud” of the most frequently selected metrics, marketers can easily add or change metrics to customize the presentation of data. Finally, marketers can easily share the analysis by sending report views via email or connecting to an external display for presentations.

*Please Note: You must be an existing Adobe SiteCatalyst customer with valid login privileges to use the application.

9. Roambi - Visualize (FREE)

(iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)

Roambi - Visualize is a mobile dashboard app that lets you explore different business reports and data visualizations.  You can view data from Microsoft Excel or CSV/HTML data sources for free, or there are a couple paid levels of the Roambi Publishing Service that offer many more data source options.

Roambi is an innovative app that quickly transforms your business reports and data – from many popular business applications – into secure, interactive mobile dashboards, instantly delivered to any iPhone or iPad. It lets you easily view and interact with up-to-the-minute company information – giving you the insight you need for on-the-go analysis, impromptu presentations and smart decision-making. Roambi puts the pulse of your business, in the palm of your hand.

 10. Pennant ($4.99)

(iPad ONLY)

Pennant is a beautiful app that visualizes over 50 years of baseball history (from 1952-2010) with some beautiful visual designs.

Pennant is an interactive history of baseball like none other seen before. Using Pennant’s rich interface fans can browse and view data from over 115,000 games that have taken place from 1952 to 2010. For more info as well as a video preview please visit http://www.pennant.cc

Did I miss any that I should include in a future post?  This is absolutely only the beginning, so expect to see more in the future.