Author: Brendan Barry

  • The Calderon Connections

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    Brendan Barry
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    I am not terribly familiar with local politics outside of my local areas. So the background and details of this piece escape me. However, this interactive graphic and story from the Los Angeles Times does a really great job of leading the reader through the story. First, the piece starts with a general overview or…

  • Fixing Fukushima

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    Brendan Barry
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    Two and a half years ago an earthquake and then tsunami devastated Japan. But it was the tsunami that crippled the Fukushima nuclear power station and created the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Unfortunately things are still not working properly and the plant is still leaking radioactive particles into the local environment. This interactive…

  • Mapping Public Health Data

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    Brendan Barry
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    Today’s piece maps and charts comes from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The piece combines maps and charting components to detail preventable hospitalisations and emergency room use in the state of Illinois. Ordinarily I would prefer just one map, however, in this case the designers realised that a regional map—with its larger surface area—need…

  • Illegal Arrivals to Australia

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    Brendan Barry
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    This article on Yahoo by the AFP has an interesting graphic on the problem facing Australia of illegal arrivals via boat that, in part, probably cost Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party of Australia the recent election. I like the overall graphic, but I feel that the data labels are unnecessary on the line chart…

  • Looking for my Lego Thomas Malthus Figure

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    Brendan Barry
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    Because Friday. And because Lego. Here you have xkcd. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

  • Two-stroke Engines

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    Brendan Barry
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    Infographics of the science-y, illustration-y kind have always been my favourite. They show you how the world works. Now, it has been a long time since I have used a leaf blower or lawn mower, but I always took for granted how they worked. But this fantastic graphic from the Washington Post makes sure that…

  • The Roma of Europe

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    Brendan Barry
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    The Roma, or the Gypsies, are a displaced population living throughout Europe. They have been in the news recently. In France, a family was deported to Kosovo after their asylum appeal was rejected after a few years. However, the deportation removed a girl from a French school and the outcry was sufficient that President Hollande…

  • Baseball Payrolls

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    Brendan Barry
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    The World Series starts tomorrow night and for all but two teams, that means focusing on the upcoming 2014 roster. And rosters are often defined by payroll flexibility. A co-worker of mine forwarded along today’s interactive graphic that looks at team payrolls through stacked bar charts. The design is certainly a bit clunky with heavy…

  • A Data-driven Web Application for Global Economic Statistics

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    Brendan Barry
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    In the interests of transparency and full disclosure, for my employer I design interactive web-based applications that display significant amounts of data on various countries and industries—along with other design things. So I am always curious to see how others handle similar types and quantities of data. This interactive application—I hesitate to call something like…

  • Name Dropping Brands

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    Brendan Barry
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    Happy Friday, everybody. Today’s post is a graphic from Vanity Fair that looks at the rapper Jay Z. (And for all those wondering, no, I have never intentionally listened to any of his music.) Specifically, this kind-of-stacked-bar-but-more-icon chart indicates how many times he name drops specific luxury brands in his albums. You can also file…