Category: Design

June 27, 2023

Treasure trove

GEMS FROM MICHAEL STOLL’S INFORMATION DESIGN COLLECTION.

I’ve posted a number of times about Michael Stoll’s outstanding, and ever-growing, information design collection.
(Several links are at the foot of this page.)
These examples are from two twentieth-century books that were included in a presentation that Michael gave recently to one of my classes. The joy of making infographics comes shining through.

Above and below, NATURE CROSS-SECTIONS by Richard Orr, 1995.

Michael Stoll: “The visual blocks act like paragraphs of text. The information is divided up and easy to explore in this block-by-block format, but is still connected through style and content.”

MAN’S REACH INTO SPACE by Roy A. Gallant. Illustrated by Lee J. Ames, 1959.

Michael Stoll: ”The vivid colors and color contrasts, plus the extreme perspective views and clear layout, support understanding of these complex topics. I’m sure that the American people’s high level of knowledge about all things related to the Space Race contributed to the pure excitement back then.”

PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT ITEMS IN MICHAEL’S COLLECTION (Yes, it includes a 1965 Cadillac.)

Cadillac: https://wp.me/s7LiLW-cadillac

Pictogram story: https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2Na

Swiss data viz: https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2iq

Wall charts: https://wp.me/p7LiLW-1Sj

Eye model: http://wp.me/p7LiLW-1yx

Flap books: http://wp.me/p7LiLW-IV

Flight thru Instruments: http://wp.me/p7LiLW-Rr

Herbert Bayer’s Geo-Graphic Atlas: http://wp.me/p7LiLW-xO

The Atlas to Alexander von Humboldt’s “Kosmos,” : http://wp.me/p7LiLW-jO

June 16, 2021

Eight by Eight and the Euros

FOLLOW THE FOOTBALL (SOCCER) FUN.

Illustrations by Diego Patino (Mbappé), Ben Kirchner (Mount), Joe Morse (Lukaku) and Tim MacDonagh (Fernandes).

Last Thursday, an Eight by Eight channel for the 2020 Euros* was launched on Apple News+. Designed by Robert Priest and Grace Lee, with considerable flair, for the dedicated football fan (which, of course, includes me).
* Being held a year late, for obvious reasons.

Above, the official logo for the 2018–20 UEFA European Football Championship (the full name, which I admit I had to look up). The tournament started on Friday in Rome, and will include 51 games at 11 venues, with the final in London on July 11.

Here’s some elements from the 12 sections of Eight by Eight’s channel. The complete content: https://bit.ly/3iIJXXh
Below, the opener for a Bruno Fernandes (Portugal) feature.

From “Top Ten Players to Watch.”

There’s a full match schedule and bracket.

All 24 home kits are shown, and ranked. Illustrations by Haisam Hussein.

And if you want to put the championship trophy in your living room and walk around it, there’s an AR feature.

Editor’s note: OK, I’m not impartial in all this. I’ve been involved with Eight by Eight since before it’s launch in 2013.

May 18, 2021

Art Deco NYC

MODERNIST ARCHITECTURAL MASTERPIECES.

I lived in New York City for many years, which does not make me an authority on the city’s numerous examples of Art Deco architecture, but… here’s a few of my favorites. Above, the incomparable Chrysler Building (which opened in 1930).

All black and white photographs are by Samuel Gottscho, from the Gottscho-Schleisner Collection at the Library of Congress.

Lobby of the Empire State Building (1930).

30 Rockefeller Plaza (1933).

Lobby of the Daily News Building (1930). A previous post about its magnificent globe: https://wp.me/p7LiLW-17y

Crown of the General Electric Building (1931).

Auditorium of Radio City Music Hall (1932). There’s almost 6,000 seats.

Gone, but not forgotten
The Trylon and Perisphere, centerpiece of the 1939 New York World’s Fair. A previous post about them: https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2fK

A streamlined locomotive at the Fair.

Art Deco (short for Arts Decoratifs) takes its name from the Exposition International des Arts Décoratifs et Industrials Modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris in 1925. Although elements of Art Deco had been around for decades before that. The style had a huge influence on all forms of design through the 1920s and ’30s. Geometric ornament, streamlined forms and straight lines were some of the components of the Art Deco style.

January 12, 2021

Gray and yellow

THE 2021 PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR IS A TWO-COLOR COMBINATION.

Need color inspiration for your next infographic? It could be time to use these pandemic-influenced hues.
Ultimate Gray (17-5104) and Illuminating (13-0647).

Pantone’s website: https://www.pantone.com

Pantone says:
“Two independent colors that come together to create an aspirational color pairing, conjoining deeper feelings of thoughtfulness with the optimistic promise of a sunshine-filled day.”

OK, let’s do it. (And look forward to a time when the pandemic is over.)

Images
Adobe Stock has a Pantone 2021-inspired collection. https://adobe.ly/33VZcEf

Redecorate
As fast as possible, I need to redo my living room. Something like this.

I could even have Pantone 2021 pillows: https://rdbl.co/3b5JUAX

Color history
Two colors have shared the selection before (2016), but it’s the first time that an achromatic color has been chosen.

December 1, 2020

Paper eagle

HANDMADE ORNITHOLOGY.

Lisa Lloyd has created a life-sized bald eagle that’s made entirely out of paper and card. As Lisa says, “The eagle has now flown to its new home,” which is the reception area of The Villages, a retirement community in Florida that has a population of over 125,000. The eagle will make its debut next week. All photographs © Moose Azim https://www.mooseazim.com

There’s approximately 25,000 paper feathers in the model, and each one was fringed and scored by hand.

Work in progress
It took Lisa about three months to make the model, working three or four days a week on it. The skeleton is made of strong card, and there’s a wire that runs along the top of the wings to give necessary support. The eagle’s wingspan is 6.5 feet (2 meters).

A video about the process: https://vimeo.com/479859544

Lisa’s website: https://www.lisalloyd.net

A previous post about Lisa’s work: https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2pD

This is my 250th post, over a period of four years and four months. (Including a five-month break after the pandemic took hold.) Back at the beginning, I posted twice a week, then once a week, then once a month (or less). I could keep following this trajectory, but once a year might be a little too infrequent. Basically, I’m surprised that I’ve had more than fifty ideas, and indeed many of the posts were suggestions from interested people. In some cases, they were completely put together by much-appreciated infographic friends. (Oh, if only I had more of those.)

Total visitors to date: 71,006. Total views: 119,253

Thank you readers and contributors.

May 12, 2020

Small

THE MICRO WORLD.

Micrographs
Rob Kesseler reveals the unseen world of plants in the “PHY-TOPIC” series. Using a range of complex microscopy processes, he creates composite images, adding many subtle layers of color that reveal functional and structural characteristics. Rob’s work combines science and art in the tradition of visual scientific discovery that goes back centuries. He is a Professor of Arts, Design & Science at Central Saint Martins, London. See more work here: http://www.robkesseler.co.uk

Above, Daucus carota. Wild carrot. Fruit. (From “Fruit, Edible, Inedible, Incredible” by Rob Kesseler and Wolfgang Stuppy. Published by Papadakis.) https://bit.ly/2SW7aYS

Medicago arborea. Tree medick seedpod.

Salix caprea. Goat willow, collection of pollen grains.

Santolina chamaecyparissus. Cotton lavender, pollen grain.

Stellaria media. Chickweed, pollen grain on anther.

Viburnum. Stellate leaf hairs.

Westringia. Coastal rosemary, pollen grain.

All images © Rob Kesseler

Recognizing viruses
Unseen invaders, by Bryan Christie Design. This illustration is from 2009, which explains the influenza virus being swine flu. Today that would, of course, be COVID-19, which has turned our world upside down.

Nanometer
Nigel Holmes explains a measurement that’s used for very small items. An example: DNA is about two nanometers in diameter.

The head of a pin
In 1959, physicist Richard Feynman challenged scientists to find a way to inscribe a book page 25,000 times smaller than in it’s regular printed form. 25 years later, Tom Newman used a beam of electrons to etch the first page of Charles Dickens’“A Tale of Two Cities” on a piece of plastic 200 microns* square. At this scale, the entire Encyclopedia Britannica would fit on the head of a pin (which was the original challenge).
* 1 micron = 1,000 nanometers.

Someone once told me that my knowledge of mathematics could be written on the head of a pin with a sledgehammer. I made a few bad numerical errors in infographics earlier in my career, so that statement was not entirely off the mark.

The counterpoint to this post, “Big numbers:” https://wp.me/p7LiLW-2Wk

A related post about scale, “Powers of Ten:” https://wp.me/p7LiLW-21z

January 15, 2020

Eight by Eight Issue 16: The Greatness Factor

FEATURING THE ALL-TIME BEST PLAYERS.

The latest edition of Robert Priest and Grace Lee’s football (soccer) magazine* has just arrived on the newsstands. It contains a 27-page celebration of ten great players. Below are some sample spreads from that section, and from the rest of the issue.

Order it here: https://shop.8by8mag.com

* I’m the infographics director (see below).

Ten degrees of infographics
I’ll probably run into some trouble from the data police for arranging this graphic at an angle. OK, I accept the criticism in advance, obviously it’s easier to compare values when they’re not tilted, but…that’s showbiz! (Click on the image for a larger version.)

January 8, 2020

Classic Blue

PANTONE 19-4052 STARTS THE NEW DECADE.

This is 2020’s color. We’d better all use it for absolutely everything this year. Here’s the way that Pantone sees it:

“Instilling calm, confidence, and connection, this enduring blue hue highlights our desire for a dependable and stable foundation on which to build as we cross the threshold into a new era.”

Onboard everybody?

Get some Classic Blue sneakers here: https://bit.ly/2Pp63z0

Pantone’s website: https://bit.ly/2tmDKbX

Visionary
I’ve used plenty of blue during my career (perhaps too much), but now I know that I was way ahead of my time.

Color Code
A previous Pantone post: https://wp.me/p7LiLW-qq

December 17, 2019

Form with function

DESIGN BY PETER BRISTOL

Peter is head of industrial design at Oculus, the augmented and virtual reality company. His work follows a simple aesthetic, that’s both beautiful and functional. Above, the Oculus Rift headset. His website: http://www.peterbristol.net

Toogle Touch Remote. The sliding top reveals controls for different devices.

The Juniper THIN Chandelier has 12 articulating arms, so it can be adjusted into an infinite number of forms.

Cut Chair. A steel plate concealed in the carpet makes the chair functional.

Training Dresser encourages kids to organize their clothes.

Microsoft Sculpt Keyboard.

Square Leg Round Table in wood and powder-coated steel.

Infinity Racing Wheel, for iPhones and iPads.

Clip Bag. Borrows its form from a common binder clip. Wool felt and aluminum.

June 13, 2019

Design revisited

LOOKING AT THE BIGGER PICTURE.

Of course, good design is vital if our infographics are going work effectively (and attract attention).
Here’s some posts that look at general design themes.

Organized https://wp.me/p7LiLW-Z4

Pantone https://wp.me/p7LiLW-qq