Common Causes of Tummy Aches in Children

Common Causes of Tummy Aches in Children from Tummy Calm is guide for all parents, because all kids get unexplained stomach aches at some point.   The infographic does a good job of clearly walking the audience through the potential symptoms, causes and remedies.

A tummy ache can be a frustrating symptom to understand in small children.  While it’s a common problem, there are a wide variety of potential causes.  This infographic reviews many potential causes of stomach ache and offers pros and cons to potential remedies.

Designed by InfoNewt, this infographic is much more visual explanation and less data visualization.  Health-related topics are also designs that you need to be careful with.  You want to provide good information to the audience, but you don’t want to be interpretted as advising medical care.  The design was carefully worded to be helpful to parents, but also reviewed by a pediatrician to make sure the information presented didn’t cross the line into providing medical advice.

The Visual History of Swimwear

The History of Swimwear infographic is a visual timeline from Backyard Ocean that shows the evolution of the swimsuit over the last 150 years.

The swimsuit: a symbol of stylish summer fun. Parade it on the beach or in the privacy of your above ground pool at home. Swimwear’s history has grown from cavemen furs to science fiction fancies. Artsy, classy, conservative or sexy, the swimsuit is an icon of summer style and fashion. Backyard Ocean takes a breath from swimming to see just how the swimsuit has changed through time. CLICK on the image to enlarge!

This is a design by Jeremy Yingling with InfoNewt (my company).  Each model on the timeline has an illustration showing off the fashions, and represents either a new suit design or a famous example from TV & movies.  My favorite part is the associated pie chart visualizing the amount of skin coverage for each swimsuit (or lack thereof).

The design also plots the amount of skin coverage over time, the evolution of the “thong” and how skin exposure does not automatically equate to higher sex appeal.

Thanks to the team at Backyard Ocean! 

The Awesome Tower of Beer!

The High Life in a new infographic from RothIRA.com that visualizes the awesome tower of beer you could buy if you were to save just $1 per day starting at age 25.

Getting older has its benefits—how about all the beer you can drink? All it takes is a dollar a day (and a really, really large fridge).

Want to learn more about a Roth IRA?

Designed by InfoNewt (my company), this design follows the strategy of telling one story really well.  There are hundreds of charts online showing the power of compound interest and why people should invest early for retirement.  We took a different approach to put the power of those savings into terms that young adults are more likely to relate to…BEER!

Thanks to the team at RothIRA.com for being great to work with!

Update on Tuesday, August 28, 2012 at 7:44PM by Randy

Awesome!  The Tower of Beer infographic went viral and was picked up on…

Mashable: http://mashable.com/2012/08/21/retirement-planning-beer/

AARP: http://blog.aarp.org/2012/08/21/convince-your-kids-to-save-in-a-language-they-understand-beer/

HolyKaw: http://holykaw.alltop.com/the-high-life-explaining-retirement-savings-w

The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/21/retirement-planning-expla_n_1817409.html

Betterment: https://www.betterment.com/blog/2012/08/20/have-your-beer-and-drink-it-too/

@GuyKawasaki on Twitter: http://twitter.com/GuyKawasaki/statuses/238656984864411649

The Jane Dough: http://www.thejanedough.com/retirement-planning-infographic/

…and many more!

The Lifespan of Storage Media

Crashplan has just released The Lifespan of Storage Media, a comprehensive guide to how long your data will last.  Designed by Mike Wirth with InfoNewt, this infographic compares the expected lifespans of popular media types used over the last 100 years to save different kinds of information: computer data, photos, videos and audio.  Do your 8-tracks still play?

As each new form of data storage comes on the scene, the market is at first enamored with its compactness, convenience and hoped-for data longevity. But invariably, the reality of physical vulnerability and a limited lifespan remains. Eventually, all media fails, but Cloud backup is forever.

This was a fantastic project to work on, and the data research was the most challenging piece.  We had to find data to support both an average expected life and an extended “with extreme care” life.  We certainly found some contradictory data sources, and ultimately used data we felt was the most commonly accepted in the industry.

Do you have old computer backups burned to CDs, tapes or even hard drives on your shelf?  Don’t count on being able to read the data from them too much longer!  The short lifespan for many of these types of media that people use everyday to archive their personal photos and videos was most surprising.

Thanks to the team at Crashplan for a great project!

The Massive Challenge of Search Engine Complexity

Courtesy Stone Temple Consulting

The complexity of generating Search results online is HUGE.  The What’s So Hard About Search? infographic from SEO expert Eric Enge at Stone Temple Consulting takes a look at the massive numbers involved with indexing and searching the Web.

Building a search engine is a very complex task. I often find myself trying to justify to people why it is that search engines can’t understand their site. They seem fixated on believing that a search engine should understand it if a human can understand it. The short answer is that with an infinite amount of time the search engine could, but the scale of the Internet makes it oh so VERY hard.

The infographic below tries to give you some sense of the scale of the problem. Please note that a few numbers are hard to truly pin down, but I pulled them from the best sources I could. For example, no one really knows how many pages there are on the web, though Majestic SEO is aware of 3.7 trillion (the number I used) or the average web page size.

Regardless, the message is the same either way. The web is a really complex place!

Designed by InfoNewt, the design gathers data from a number of different sources to put together the picture of complexity.  Combining the number of web pages, the average number of links on each web page, the amount of data online and the number of searches every minute, you begin to understand the scale of the challenge search engines face.

This design takes a different approach by citing each data source along with it’s visualization instead of gathering them all at the bottom.  I think it works well with this many different data sources, and is easier for the readers to understand where each part of the data comes from.  All of the key elements are included at the bottom: copyright, brand logo and the URL to the infographic landing page so readers can always find the original (even when blogs repost it without linking or using the embed code).

I just have to say “Cheers!” to the developer teams that tackle this problem every day.  The scope of this challenge will only get bigger in the future!

Thanks to Eric and the team at Stone Temple for being great to work with!

Client: Avoid the Dip from IPO Lockups

Avoid the Dip: The Effect of Lockup on Stock Price is a new infographic InfoNewt designed for Wealthfront.

A flood tide of shares is hitting the market in May and June, as a number of the high-profile tech IPOs from the fall emerge from lockup periods, including Jive Software (JIVE), Zynga (ZNGA) and Angie’s List (ANGI).

If you’re one of the employees of the 28 companies whose lockups are expiring in May or June, you’re wondering how to diversify your portfolio and when to sell.

Here’s our research on the question of what to do in the days immediately following the lockup expiration, presented visually to help you see the dip that typically follows the end of the lockup.*

As valuable financial information to many employees of the tech companies going IPO this year, Wealthfront looked back at 254 prior technology company IPOs to chart “The Dip” that consistently have a price dip the first day after the Lockup ends.

Don’t understand what a Lockup is?  That’s explained in the infographic as well.

Thanks to the team at Wealthfront!

Kelly Slater: Greatest Athlete of All Time?

Kelly Slater: Greatest Athlete of All Time? is a design collaboration between InfoNewt (my company) and the design team at Quiksilver.

It is common knowledge among our tribe that June 20th is recognized as International Surfing Day so who better to celebrate then Kelly Slater, 11X ASP World Champion. In the spirit of ISD, we’ve created an Infographic comparing Slater to athletes from traditional sports who have made history and measured their achievements to our Champ’s. Have a look and decide for yourself if Slater truly is “The Greatest Athlete of All Time”.

Do you think Kelly Slater is “The Greatest Athlete of All Time”? If yes, share this with your friends and get ready for summer with a pair of Kelly’s Cypher Nomad Boardshorts.

Of course it’s difficult to compare athletes from different sports, but Kelly Slater’s surfing achievements are truly impressive.  Despite being both the youngest and the oldest to win the ASP World Champion title, holding three Guinness World Records, winning 11 Would Tour Championships and winning events in 11 different countries, Kelly Slater has never been on the cover of Sports Illustrated.  :(

Here are some of the design aspects that this infographic gets right:

• The key message is communicated within the first couple of seconds.  Even if a reader doesn’t read the whole infographic, they will leave understanding the key message.
• Visually appealling with vivid, colorful images, but still easy to read top-to-bottom.
• Intergrated the visual brand style of Quiksilver using photos, with the data visualizations about his career.
• Good mix of different data visualization styles that are unique to the data they communicate
• The key parts at the bottom are all there.  Data sources, brand logo, copyright statement and the URL to the original, full-size infographic.

The data for this design was the key challenge, and finding similar titles or awards in the other sports inspires discussion and debate among readers of the infographic.  Whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter or blog comments, this design draws in readers and invites everyone to share their own opinion.

Check out the full-size infographic HERE, and you can voice your own opinion about Kelly Slater in the comments below.

Thanks to the team at Quiksilver for being fantastic to work with!

Client Infographic: U.S. Motorcycle Helmet Laws

This was a fun project to work on.  The Helmet Laws infographic is a visual reference for all motorcycle riders of the state-by-state helmet laws in the U.S., and also includes a few fact about the states with the highest fines and longest jail time as punishment for breaking those laws.  It’s a light-hearted design meant to make the complex mix of legal requirements easier to understand, because often riders don’t take the time to understand the laws as they cross state borders.

We are actively pursuing lawsuits for injured Michigan motorcyclists and wanted to create an infographic that would be a great resource for riders! The Helmet Laws infographic also displays which states have the highest fines and maximum jail time for violating their helmet law. You should share this infographic with other avid bikers who may be taking a ride across state lines

Only three states have no helmet laws at all (Iowa, Illinois and New Hampshire), and 20 states have strict, mandatory helmet laws.  The remaining 28 states fall somewhere in between (Total of 51 because the District of Columbia is included).

FREE Wallet Cards!  (No longer available)

As an added bonus, small wallet-size card (like a credit card) were printed by Buckfire Law that show just the map visualization and are available FREE to anyone that requests them!  These are meant for any motorcycle rider in the country to carry as a quick reference guide while riding.  You can find the instructions to request a free card on the Motorcycle page of the Buckfire site.  Scroll down past the infographic on their site and you’ll find the link to the online form.  Fill it out, and they will mail one to you for free, so share with anyone you know that rides.

InfoNewt worked with Buckfire & Buckfire Law to develop the design and the wallet card program.  Thanks to the team at Buckfire for being great to work with!

Update on Sunday, March 3, 2013 at 7:16PM by Randy

The free wallet card program has ended, but has now been replaced with a new, FREE, dedicated smartphone app.  Riders can check the helmet laws in all 50 states, and even some international countries.  The app is now available for both iOS (iPhone, iPad and iPod) and Android devices.

The app also includes a number of additional functions like GPS bike finder, accident checklist, photo gallery of cool helmet designs and discounts at some of your favorite bike shops across the country.  You can also watch a demo video of the smartphone app on the Backfire & Buckfire site.

Download it onto your phone today!

Gymkhana: The Infographic

Gymkhana: The Infographic, is a design collaboration between InfoNewt (my company) and the design team at DC Shoes.  Gymkhana has become a mega-viral hit series of YouTube videos showing Ken Block and his rally car racing through different locations and performing many cool driving stunts.  There have been four Gymkhana videos released on YouTube in the last four years with over 135 million views combined, and Gymkhana 5 is expected this summer!

The DC Ken Block Gymkhana Project is a viral phenomenon with well over 135 Million views worldwide and a collection of more than 40+ videos. The Gymkhana franchise has won countless awards including top rated, most shared video series and most recently received the award for #1 viral video ad of 2011.

Created as a fun way to check out all things Gymkhana, the Infographic displays highlights, amazing stats and facts about the Gymkhana YouTube videos. “The fun just keeps on rolling along,” said Ken Block, the Gymkhana star and co-founder of DC Shoes. “The Gymkhana Infographic puts together some outstanding facts. Even I didn’t know that the Ford Fiesta used in Gymkhana 4 had 9 times the horsepower as my first car, a 1984 Toyota Corolla station wagon. Astounding!”

The infographic brings new viewers up to speed leading up to the release of Gymkhana 5, and gives fans of the videos a bunch of behind-the-scenes information they can’t find anywhere else.

Thanks to the team at DC Shoes for a great project!

Client Infographic: Most Polluted Cities 2012

Every year the American Lung Association releases a new State of the Air Report sharing their test results of air pollution across the U.S.  This year, InfoNewt is working with them to release a series of infographic designs based on the 2012 report starting with the Most Polluted Cities in the United States 2012.

Air pollution remains a serious threat to our health.

For 13 years, the American Lung Association has analyzed data from state air quality monitors to compile the State of the Air report. The more you learn about the air you breathe, the more you can protect your health and take steps to make our air cleaner and healthier. Here’s what we learned about air pollution from 2008–2010, the best, most recent data. 

InfoNewt, with designer Jeremy Yingling, helped the American Lung Association look through their data to pull out one clear story to use in the infographic design.  The three-part story starts with an introduction to the problem (what is air pollution and how is it measured), the main visual shows the testing results from the three different types of air pollution on the map of the U.S. and ends with a call-to-action with what readers can do with this information.

The full 179-page report is available online here, but a big report with tables of data doesn’t convey a clear, understandable message to the general public.  The use of an infographic to summarize one part of the report and put the data into context that even kids can understand is a very effective way for the American Lung Association to reach a much broader audience.

There is a lot more information contained in the report, but the key to success here was focusing on visualizing just one story (where is the worst air pollution?) very clearly.

Thanks to the team at the American Lung Association for being great to work with!