Creating Geographies

When I was much younger I invented a game where you essentially managed the development of civilisations. xkcd pretty much explains why the idea appealed to me. Minus all the power, obviously. Because that house is by far the best place for a deep water port for the import/export of valuable commodities. This, however, is missing all the tanks and battleships.

Defining geographies
Defining geographies

Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

Surviving Holiday Parties

The Christmas holidays are known for many things. One of them is the office holiday party. Today’s post looks at a flow chart put together by the company for which I work, Euromonitor International. As it was put together by the design team, you might very well think that I had something to do with it. But I couldn’t possibly comment.

The beginning of the flow chart
The beginning of the flow chart

Credit for the piece goes to the Euromonitor design team.

Why I Became an Information Designer or: Why People Hate Watching Movies with Me

I don’t always watch pop culture. But on those occasions when I do, xkcd basically sums up why I became an information designer.

Reason No. 42 why I became an information designer
Reason No. 42 why I became an information designer

Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

American College Football Part Deux

A couple of weeks ago I shared a map from the New York Times that looked at American college football programme loyalty. And I quipped that none of it made sense to me as someone born and raised in the Northeast. The New York Times followed that piece up with another that looks solely at Facebook likes of college football via likes for any team. Not surprisingly the sport does not do too well in the Northeast. But it does appear quite popular in other regions of the country.

Chester County is not big on it…
Chester County is not big on it…

Credit for the piece goes to Neil Irwin and Kevin Quealy.

Thanksgiving Recipes by State

Today is an American holiday: Thanksgiving. We give thanks that European diseases and military technology allowed us to remove the native population for colonisation of the continent. We do that by watching American football and eating lots and lots of food. For dessert, well, we have dessert. But also gluttonous amounts of shopping. So in that spirit, here is the New York Times’ presentation of Thanksgiving recipes per state. The description is followed by an expandable recipe.

Mmm…bacon.
Mmm…bacon.

To be fair, I really am a fan of shoofly pie. But that’s just me.

Credit for the piece goes to the New York Times.

When is Hummus Not Hummus?

The subject matter of this one interested me. I am new to hummus. Well, sort of. I never ate it before moving to Chicago. But when I did, I understood it to be essentially a dip made from chick peas. According to an article from Quartz, It turns out that’s what most Americans believe. Even if they’re not necessarily buying it. Literally (sort of). Because some popular brands contain no chick peas. (Disclosure: I work for the company that provided some of the market sizing data used in the piece.)

Kind of needs chickpeas.
Kind of needs chickpeas.

Credit for the piece goes to David Yanofsky.

Can You Land Philae

Today is Friday, so let’s take it a bit easy. You have heard of Philae and the comet landing. But we also know now that it bounced upon landing. But could you do any better? The BBC produced this game to let you try to do just that.

Landing Philae
Landing Philae

Credit for the piece goes to the BBC graphics department.

Judgmental Philly Map

Happy Friday, everyone. To help you waste some of your time today, here is a link to a set of maps of various cities. The twist? They are judgmental. So here is the map of Philadelphia. Though, to judge this piece, it looks more like it is a map of Jersey than Philly.

Judging Philly
Judging Philly

Credit for the piece goes to R Scott Fallon.