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.

I am traveling to sanctuaries across the country to photograph animals that are elderly or at the end stage of their lives. I began this series shortly after I had spent a year in New Jersey helping my sister care for my mother who has Alzheimer’s disease. When my mother got ill, I made a conscious decision to not photograph her. However, caring for her had a profound impact on me and I knew the experience would influence my photography. Shortly after I had returned from New Jersey, I encountered a blind elderly horse that was living on a relative’s property. I was mesmerized by this animal and spent the afternoon photographing him. After reviewing my film, I realized I had found a project that would enable me to sift through my feelings around my mother’s illness.

Elderly Animals: Photographs by Isa Leshko from Mark & Angela Walley on Vimeo.

The Little Know-It-All provides the fundamental information designers need to know to thrive in their growing field of practice. This updated edition is an indispensable manual of the knowledge currently required of designers as the evolution of media redefines their role and expands the disciplines in which they must be competent.

I was interested to see that a 7-chapter long book could cover the basics of design practice. Admittedly, I like the title. If you need to brush up on colour theory, printing methods, type basics or digital media, the fundamentals are here.

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

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