Just to point you to a new page on my site listing a selection of resources relating to visual journalism, data journalism, infographics and data visualisation.
I keep making different versions of this for different people, so this is an attempt to put it all in once place.
And of course, please alert me to any glaring omissions, or errors. Thanks!
If you haven’t been asked to create a network diagram yet, you will be soon. Here’s some good context, illustrating how we’ve got to our current state of organised complexity.
See and hear the full story below – another excellent RSAnimate – this one by Manuel Lima.
8-bit playing card design by Artemy Lebedev, seen on subtraction.com
Seeing this lovely set of playing cards gives me the excuse to air a thought I had a while ago.
As a child I played cards lots. And the skills I didn’t realise I was learning are dead useful for seeing different ways into data, handy if you work in infographics these days: groups, sub-groups, hierarchy, sets, patterns, mental arithmetic, different ways of cutting and rearranging the same set of numbers. Same idea as here.
Add it to the curriculum immediately.
I was just updating dates for the grad shows I usually visit in London – over there in the right-hand column ‘Food for thought in London’ – and once again the volume of work on offer is enormous.
So, to that end, if anyone can give me some guidance as to infographic people or courses to look out for I’d be grateful.
There is no obvious career path for people who end up being infografistas, and maybe that’s because it pulls on a raft of skills from a raft of disciplines that aren’t addressed by our education system today. And I’m well aware that’s true not only of infographics, but many other jobs today too.
My Spanish teacher was a strong advocate of the argument that our current education system was outdated for serving the world in the 21st century. A fabulous STIR lecture by Sir Jonathan Miller touched on this theme too as he reflected on his achievements across art, science, comedy and communication despite his traditional schooling.
So I wanted to share Sir Ken Robinson’s RSA talk ‘Changing Education Paradigms’ which is a very eloquent demonstration of the arguments. Admittedly it came to my attention only recently because of the simultaneous illustration of the talk (RSA Animate) which I like, but it’s the content I’m more interested in here.
One show that comes around at the same time as all the grad shows is the one at the RCA’s Helen Hamlyn Centre for People-centred design research, this year called The Lives of Others.
The emphasis is on designing products, solutions, anything, so long as it is useful. They’re not interested in quirky, clever, of-the-moment. Just useful. Like the hospital gown. Like the inside of an ambulance.
Based on observation and research they offer real, simple, practical solutions to everyday problems. It’s always an inspiring show and often humbling.
This is another organisation that it would be fascinating and rewarding to collaborate with in the fields of information design and or infographics.
Desirable skills in a web newsroom (The New York Times to be precise). Any good if I could do a bit of all of them?
Front-end Interactive Designer Full skill-set of client-side technologies including HTML, CSS and JavaScript/Prototype. Experience with Ruby on Rails is a plus
Motion Design Storyteller Working knowledge of AfterEffects and Photoshop in producing motiongraphics. Final Cut a plus. We are looking for someone to help grow the motion design side of storytelling. So applicant must have a strong sense of timing and narrative and have the ability to implement a variety of creative styles
Interactive Flash Journalist Advanced programming knowledge and experience in Flash and ActionScript 3. Experience with Photoshop and Illustrator is a plus
Why I blog. I also freelance. I run workshops too. Who I am (LinkedIn). Some of my work (Flickr). Contact me via contact at lulupinney dot co dot uk.