I miss the days when I could design a weekly content strategy. Well, at least sometimes I would design a weekly content strategy. Nowadays I find that what I want to do is often trumped by news out of Washington and the administration.
And that news is the abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey. There is a lot more to this story than I can type up this morning. (But I am sure we will get to it in the coming days and weeks.) But I saw this image in a tweet this morning and it sort of sums up my concerns.
That is not the sliver in which you want to find people
Well the election is finally over. And since last week I used my Friday post to talk about something serious, I apologise for backtracking just a wee bit to go back to the election.
This summer I had a discussion with one of the designers I worked with at the time, Ciana Frenze. We were sitting out in the Art Institute garden with a few other designers where she was explaining Harry Potter’s sorting hat to me—I know nothing about Harry Potter. I never thought that knowing the defining characteristics of the various houses would come in handy, especially given my interest in politics and data. But today’s piece fits rather well.
Some of my co-workers are taking me out for a few drinks as I started a new job at my company last month. It’s a lot of work and a lot of learning things I know little about. So this piece from This Is Indexed seems appropriate for this Friday.
Seth Meyers debuted his new show last month. And in the debut he used Venn diagrams to tell jokes. And while I was going to poke fun at Arizona, the opportunity for the joke disappeared a few weeks ago. So instead, I will take the time to show another.
Happy Friday, everyone. According to xkcd, I am failing the future test. That is to say, by 2019, I will be unable to communicate data through infographics or create data visualisations.
Bro. You have surely heard the term exchanged by young men to each other as a sign of friendship, greeting, &c. If you are like me, you are probably confused as to just what constitutes a bro. Thankfully the folks over an NPR analysed broness and compiled their findings into a Venn diagram that maps out the different types of bros. You should definitely head over to the piece and read up on the methodology, it’s worth the read. (And check out the video that epitomises the essence of bro-ness if for nothing else than a Philly news crew’s reaction to an interview with said essence.)
We throw the word minion around at work quite often. So for your Friday enjoyment comes a graphic from Indexed that looks at minions vis-a-vis wages vs. compensation as well as whether a worker is busy vs. powerful.
Last week Mitt Romney’s campaign released a series of infographic adverts. They were Venn Diagrams with messages attacking President Obama by highlighting what the Romney campaign called gaps between what the president has said he would do and what he has in fact done.
Debt GapDeficit GapHealthcare GapUnemployment Gap
The problem with these is that they are all wrong. Do not misunderstand me, the Romney campaign certainly has valid points in these statements. And to use an infographic to communicate their points is a valid approach. But whoever designed these adverts clearly did not know how a Venn Diagram works.
Here is a brief refresher course for those interested.
How Venn Diagrams Work
Unfortunately, the Romney campaign’s message is being lost in a failed medium. It’s like watching a clown give a doctoral thesis in rocket science. He sure might be making a good point. But it’s a clown. People laugh at clowns. People won’t take the clown seriously. The Romney campaign is making good points, but that message is being lost because the campaign cannot master one of the simplest types of charts.
Credit for the originals go to the Romney campaign. The bit on How Venn Diagrams Work is mine.
