Tag: illustration

  • The American Shopping Mall

    This past weekend Al-Shabab, the Al Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia, threatened shopping malls in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. This threat carries a certain amount of weight given the deadly attack Al-Shabab launched against the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya a few years ago. So what to look at today?…

  • Screw It

    We looked at some pretty disturbing things this week, from the whole anti-vaccination thing to lynchings. So today, screw it. Let’s look at screws. Thanks to xkcd we have an illustrated guide to the different type of screw heads. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

  • The Measles Outbreak

    People, science is your friend. Vaccinations are not only for the benefit of yourself, but for others. Anyway, let us take a look at the measles outbreak through some graphics produced by the New York Times. It started in Disneyland. Because we had eliminated the disease about 15 years ago. Science, people. Credit for the…

  • Masses and Payloads

    While last week ended with an xkcd post, I want to start this week with an older one I missed about spacecraft. Because spacecraft are awesome every day of the week. In particular it looks at mass and payload capacity of spacecraft and rockets over time. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

  • 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…

  • Shovelling Out of Boston

    Boston and the rest of Massachusetts are attempting to dig out of the blizzard that struck them earlier this week. The Boston Globe has provided its readers with a step by step set of directions for how to best extricate people and cars from snowed in homes. Credit for the piece goes to James Abundis…

  • Snow Accumulation in Boston

    For those of you in the Northeast, you already know you are dealing with a little bit of snow. Thankfully the BBC put the amount received in Boston in context…of dogs. Credit for the piece goes to the BBC graphics department.

  • Chicago’s Minimum Wage

    Today’s piece is a photo I snapped of the cover of a relatively recent edition of the RedEye, a free, daily tabloid distributed in Chicago. The city of Chicago decided to raise the minimum wage in the city. And this photo of a stack of quarters depicts just how many quarters that increase will be…

  • 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. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

  • Orion Test Flight

    At the time of writing, Orion has yet to launch. But by the time this is published, Orion—NASA’s successor to the space shuttle—will hopefully be at or near the greatest distance from Earth achieved by a spacecraft since the Apollo programme. The Houston Chronicle illustrated the different stages of the unmanned test flight. Hopefully in…