A utility company is literally establishing an emotional connection with the audience: via smiley or frowning faces on their utility bills. A New York Times article reports how a Sacramento utility is inspiring residents to lower their energy usage by providing them visual feedback on their utility bills…and it doesn’t hurt that the bill compares […]
Good info-design requires consistency and repetition in order to establish a visual pattern. This site does both well. Using a small-multiples-like approach that allows the viewer to compare the chips at-a-glance, the designer has clearly paired color pallet with the chips. The miniature chips (color, texture and all) are both a reference to the chip […]
A lesson in information and graphic design:Graphics need to be able to withstand the test of time. This info-graphic inside a Minneapolis bus does alright communicating no smoking and no food or drink. But my only guess is that the ‘robot’ icon was intended to represent a tape deck (as a symbol for loud music) […]
Effective since January 1st, California has launched a clean air label required on every new car produced and sold in California. The label rates ‘Smog’ and ‘Global Warming’ on a scale of 1-10 (5 being the average car, 10 being the cleanest). Though there has been a smog index label since 1998, this marks the […]
Prius’ console allow users (and passengers) to see what happens under the hood. The console sports an energy monitor (among other controls) that transparently provides information to the user (and passengers) so they can understand how the ups-and-downs of gas and break pedals impact the hybrid’s fuel usage and battery charging. Using simple visuals and […]
“Pig 05049” is a background story in reverse: This book starts from the initial ingredient (a pig) to tell the (future) story of everything that the pig becomes after slaughter. Book by Christien Meindertsma. Images from julie joliat.
First: show it all. Then let people zoom into the pieces of information that interest them. A visual story can be overwhelming if it doesn’t provide some context. A good background story makes it clear what information is found in what part of a product’s background. This example makes excellent use of spacial relationships to […]
‘The story of stuff’ is an animation/video that strolls through the ‘big picture’ of the production/consumption life cycle. Story of Stuff exposes the connections behind products (and really behind our whole economic system). It paints a relatively dreary outlook, and thereby inspires action. It has been out for a while, and fortunately they’ve recently added […]
Consumers can track the back story of their Icebreaker product through a portal on the company’s homepage. Entering a ‘baacode’ reveals pictures and video clips of the people that raise the sheep and the place they roam. The information for the sample code paints only a picture around the actual beast (sheep) that the wool […]
Here’s a quick sketch done on the map of a pre-printed coffee cup: Shows the journey of the coffee beans from origin to consumption. Small text reads (from top): Consumption, Minneapolis, MN; Processing, Texas; Production, Costa Rica.