Standford University has an amazing track-record in the initiation and development of projects that deal with data visualization. Geoff McGhee, an online journalist specializing in multimedia and info-graphics produced a compelling documentary on current research and practices in the art of visualization and its place in the age of data.

An annual awards and opportunity for cross-pollination is the Society of News Design Malofiej 19 Summit. Participants have observed that the rise in technologies allowing us to create visualization has led to an increase in stunning but otherwise vacuous graphics. The beauty factor remains compelling however as the annual Feltron Report demonstrates.

“We’re just in a phase where we haven’t quite figured out how to put this out to average reader. (. . .) It’s become like a cult trend. Some of the people doing it are like rock star”—John Grimwade of Condé Nast, observes.

This same technological development however is providing greater opportunity for interactivity and use of live data so results can in fact reflect trends in meaningful ways. Many Eyes, an IBM initiative, offers examples of visualizations but also tools to create your own. Its creators believe that—not unlike typography which is now accessible to anyone with a computer—data visualization will improve greatly the more people experiment with it.

“This idea of enabling discovery, look at the data and discover things in it that you wouldn’t have necessary have thought to look for is an important part of what we’re thinking about.”— Eric Rodenbeck, Stamen Design

With successful visualization comes unexpected questions, explorations into reasons and as a result a requirement for complete data and unlimited access. Stamen Design cites an eloquent example where, asked by the City of San Francisco to produce a crime stats visualization, the designers discovered that numbers they were provided were lacking those relating to prostitution, alcohol-related crimes and homicides.

“Visualization can promote openness by the fact of it existing. (…) [it] can serve two roles: one is the explicit role of letting us see stuff coming, the other is this sort of funny passive-aggressive role that you find yourself pushed into a mode of wanting to make data open.”—Martin Wattenberg, IBM Research

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All images from Journalism in the Age of Data

Enriqueta Book / V. Monsalve y G. J. Ibarra (C/AR)
Latinité Roman / Carlos Zinno (AR)

Sancho Regular / Miguel Reyes Cabrera (MX)
Petra / Fernando de Moraes Caro (BR)

The call for entries for the fifth biennial is now open. Whilst the typefaces design category can only include designers of latin-american origin, the design categories covering latin-american type uses is open to all nationalities. Deadline is 23 February 2012 for works produced between April 2010 and February 2012. More info on the site.

Jumping to conclusions

Throwing a wobbly

Lifting a Finger

Otl Aicher pictogrammes

Getty Images has launched a little site whose interface I personally find irritating to interact with. Aside from that however, the 27Letters Project is meant to feature conversations with design, advertising and image-making luminaries. The first one features the ever-delightful Paula Scher in a short piece on the business of design, technology and the luxury of obsession.

The link is at the bottom of the screen under “A Letter From”. Don’t attempt this on a mobile device.

Emily Carr University has launched a new annual magazine intent on demystifying the design process. The first issue of Current, an initiative of the University’s School of Design + Dynamic Media, tackles topic such as co-creation, human-centered design, sustainability and branding/identity.

The magazine is available at university libraries and as a free downloadable PDF. Watch this space.

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Image from Interaction Design: an evolving approach to design for user experience by Jim Budd and Sara Salevati

Occupy Design is a grassroots project connecting designers with on-the-ground demonstrators in the Occupy Together movement. The project’s goal is to create freely available visual tools around a common graphic language to unite the 99%. The project places an emphasis on producing infographics and icons to improve the communication of the movement’s messages and the data surrounding them across the world.

The site aims to connect designers with occupiers and, whilst this is a laudable goal, one nagging issue becomes painfully obvious when you access the—wait for it—Google doc page.

The world is inadequate in many ways. Poverty is pervasive. Wealth disparities abound. Agreed. There even seems to be consensus that many of the world’s woes stem from the unhealthy mingling of commercial and political interests. So, if the goal of the Occupy movement is to somehow influence how the financial system is run, shouldn’t the focus remain on that issue? Isn’t it enough?

Don’t get me wrong, the efforts of the designers are good, very good in some cases, but will graphic representations of various, disparate issues, help the movement become more unified? If it did, we could design a brand for it. And by brand I mean a recognisable, understandable symbol.

We could design a brand right now for Occupy but not one that could ever serve it as it should. Ideally, a brand should reflect the culture, values and essence of an entity. Without clarity into what those might be, any effort at expressing it visually will fall short of the mark. At best it will be what designers routinely call “an empty vessel”: a graphic symbol waiting to be filled with meaning.

Form is inextricably tied to function and content. If Occupy continues to struggle with its identity and offer dissonant messages, its voice will remain garbled and, in the end, easier to ignore.

Good 50 x 70 is in its fifth year. The initiative aims to offer creatives a chance to submit posters they’ve produced to communicate social messages.

In the past four years, a theme was assigned. This year it was left entirely open so creatives could choose to give voice to issues that were dear to them. This year’s jury is impressive: Kate Andrews, David Berman, David Carson, Svetlana Faldina, Cao Fang, Paddy Harrington, Ruth Klotzel, Yossi Lemel, Armando Milani, Woody Pirtle, Santiago Pol, Liza Ramalho, Massimo Vignelli, Lourdes Zolezzi.

The organisation is also in the process of developing an archive so not for profits can find suitable visuals and apply to license them for use.

The deadline for this year’s installment is today, sadly, so mark your calendars for next year if this is a scheme that strikes your fancy.

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Images from 2010
Poverty Trapped / Mary Anne Pennington, United States
Poverty! / Vahe Abed, Iran
Equality? / Arturo Botello, Mexico

According to W+K, tapping into new talent and amalgamating so-called traditional practices with technologically-driven ones is essential to uncover new ways of telling stories. W+K has moved forward in trying to open the agency up to new experiences in the following ways:

+ The Kennedys “school”—6 weeks to year-long apprenticeship programs—where people with varied backgrounds are invited to essentially hang-out in the W+K offices so cross-pollination can happen;

+ beginning with technological/engineering-led solutions and allowing them to reach their full potential by coupling them with traditional methods conjuring emotion;

+ connecting established brands and startups to allow all participants to learn from each other through the P.I.E (Portland Incubator Experiment);

Wieden + Kennedy: The Future of Creative Business from Piers Fawkes on Vimeo.

“For people seriously in love with type” comes a new quarterly print magazine named Codex. The first issue features the likes of Christian Schwartz and Paul Barnes, Paul Shaw, Stephen Coles and Erik Spiekermann.

Available to purchase for only US $27, lovingly designed by Working Format, the magazine explores historical and modern topics on the craft of typography, calligraphy, lettering, letters and text.

In the team’s own words:
Codex is a hybrid of magazine and journal. Beautifully designed, visually appealing, an immersive experience with a lively voice, it is also serious about its subject: authoritative, scholarly at times, but not dry in tone. It’s serious, but not stuffy. It loves the people, tools, and type associated with this craft, from the man carving beautiful cherubim into wood blocks in the 1400s to brilliantly formed modern interpretations and departures. It embraces the web and is watchful for the future’s classics.

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Images above © Working Format