Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Read on…: Knuckle Cracking
I used to work with a designer who was an expert knuckle cracker. So when I saw this article from the Guardian last week, I was hoping that it contained some kind of an illustration. Thankfully it did. What I like about the graphic is its simplicity. The illustration does not add a lot of extraneous details […]
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Pub Trivia Performance—the Long View
Read on…: Pub Trivia Performance—the Long ViewLast week my pub trivia team was debating whether our high score, although only good for second place—we lost by one point—was the highest. So this past weekend I scoured my sketchbooks for the last year and a half and reviewed our scores. Alas, the earliest appearances were tally-free. And I did not record them […]
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Deaths in America
Read on…: Deaths in AmericaYesterday was murders in London and New York. Today, we have a nice article from FiveThirtyEight about deaths more broadly in America. If you recall, my point yesterday was that not all graphics need to be full column width. And this article takes that approach—some graphics are full width whereas others are not. This screenshot […]
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London Beats New York
Read on…: London Beats New YorkIn murders. Not the best of news, no. But this past March London saw more murders than New York. But as I was reading the BBC article this weekend, I wondered why the graphic they chose to use received as much prominence in the article as it did. The chart as you can see occupied […]
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Technical Data Visualisation
Read on…: Technical Data VisualisationI work with economists. And so I get to see working papers and other technical papers on a rather frequent basis. But I still have no way of verifying this premise. Though I most certainly believe in that dip… Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.
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Baseball Is Back
Read on…: Baseball Is BackPraise the (baseball) gods. The 2018 season starts today with I think every team playing—the Red Sox open down in St. Petersburg against the Rays. So today’s post is on the light side as I could not find the awesomest baseball graphic. But FiveThirtyEight did at least preview the season and ran some projections. Naturally, I disagree […]
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Circle This
Read on…: Circle ThisLast week I met a friend for drinks and part of our conversation was about how on a trip to east Asia, he flew from New York and then over the North Pole. The North Pole! I then explained it was cool, but not unique. Instead aircraft typically fly between destinations via great circles. Basically, […]
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Tech Economies in the USA
Read on…: Tech Economies in the USAEarlier this March the Washington Post published a piece looking at the twenty finalist contenders for the second Amazon headquarters. Specifically it explored how the cities rank in metrics that speak to a city’s technology and innovation economy. That in and of itself, while incredibly fascinating, is not noteworthy in and of itself. Though I will […]
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All Hail the Nurses and Working People
Read on…: All Hail the Nurses and Working PeopleLet’s start this week with a quick hit on popularity and politics. It ties in nicely with the fact that my local congressman, a Republican, announced on Sunday he would not be seeking re-election in a very competitive district. This piece in particular comes from the Economist and in terms of form, it is fairly simple. […]
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Visualisation Types
Read on…: Visualisation TypesI laughed aloud when I read this. So I am just going to leave it here. Happy Friday, all. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.