Do Not Look at the Sun—I looked at the Sun
Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Read on…: Do Not Look at the Sun—I looked at the Sun
With eclipse glasses. This week saw a solar eclipse race across the surface of the Earth, from the high Arctic past the British Isles and the Atlantic coast of France and then right through the Iberian Peninsula. But that meant here on the East Coast of North America we could observe a sliver of the Sun eclipsed by the Moon.…
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Will Infantino’s Own Goal Cost Him?
Read on…: Will Infantino’s Own Goal Cost Him?Fifa president Gianni Infantino has had a rough go of it of late. Turns out the world is not too enthused about the prospect known as Profit. He may have a strong right kick, but the world does not want to sacrifice the sport at Profit’s altar. At least not yet. And so Infantino’s plan, announced shortly after the World…
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Steamy Sauna
Read on…: Steamy SaunaThis weekend was a hot and steamy one in Philadelphia. And so this morning colour me not at all surprised when I read in the BBC that the oceans hit a record high in July. The article included a few graphics, one being a map of European soil moisture—spoiler, Europe’s dry. And I am certain that has nothing to do…
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There’s Nambia
Read on…: There’s NambiaHappy Friday, all. We made it. Like the staffer at Foggy Bottom, we made it. (With a little help from our friends AI.) Earlier this week I wrote about the U.S. State Department’s map on American aid to Africa and how that map really stole the show. Unfortunately, the map was largely empty except for those handful of countries it…
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Shangr-AI La
Read on…: Shangr-AI LaLast week Google announced its newest feature for Google Earth: the ability to use AI to create layers of images atop actual satellite images of Earth. Less than 24 hours later, Google abandoned those plans. We already have enough problems with the written word and the spoken word and the broadcast word, did we really need problems with maps? The…
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But What About Nambia?
Read on…: But What About Nambia?I was going to post about this Friday, but left it for today. We need to talk about this map. First, why so many colours? Each country is clearly separated from the other, and the best rationale for so many colours here would have been if the countries shared a border and you ran the risk of confusing two adjacent…
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Global Integration. The Bad Kind.
Read on…: Global Integration. The Bad Kind.I was hoping to post this yesterday, but as you will see momentarily, it is very much still a work-in-progress. Earlier this week, Ukraine sank an Iranian freighter in the Caspian Sea—a pugnacious though innocuous sounding sentence. Of course, Ukraine battles Russia in its eastern oblasts whilst Iran battles the United States and Israel in and around the Persian Gulf…
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Judging a Magazine by Its Cover
Read on…: Judging a Magazine by Its CoverTechnically a newspaper, the Economist has been part of my weekly read since the early- to mid-2000s—my late high school and early university days. (It helped I worked in book shops through those years so could read it gently and replace it on the shelf.) This blog focuses mostly on information design, although I always leave myself the space to…
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Rook(ie) Goal?
Read on…: Rook(ie) Goal?The World Cup ended last weekend and I will likely be taking a look at some World Cup related graphics in the coming weeks. But before we do, we can start with this one from xkcd. Happy weekend, all. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.