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Map O' The Day #50 - How China Sees The World

The fiftieth installment of MOTD hails from the cover of my favorite periodical, The Economist, March 21-27, 2009 edition, and is illustrated by artist Jon Berkeley.

In light of instability in the global market, the information presented within the graphics is both topical and foreboding. And while the central theme of the graphic is, as the title aptly states, a Chinese perspective towards the world, this issue is not the driving cause for anointing this image as the 50th MOTD.

Rather, what struck me about this graphic, was that it is basically constructed of a basic landscape architecture and a few well placed labels, and yet, it’s chockfull of information pertaining to foreign policy, international conflicts, and economic woes. What the artist has accomplished with this work is a fairly comprehensive high level snapshot of China’s decision-making environment, through a masterful use of four central tenets of information mapping: Representation, Sizing, Placement and Selection.

With those four lenses, take the time to re-examine the image, and you’ll quickly realize the sheer breadth of information a information graphic conveys when attention to principle is upheld.
























1976 New Yorker graphic

Map O’ The Day #49 – Anatomy for Kids

Today's MOTD is an award winning campaign from the Dubai branch of ad agency PF7 on behalf of Brainobrain Jumeira Child Development Program. Illustrated by artist Jason Freeny of Moist Production, the anatomy schematics for kids took top honors at the 2009 Dubai Lynx International Advertising Festival presented by Cannes Lions, earning the Gold Medal in Print and the highest award of Grand Prix in the Outdoor category. As a result, $20,000 in scholarship money was given to the Brainobrain Jumeira Child Development Program in honor of this award.

The ads are playful, elegant and detailed - with multiple layers of information, packaged in kid-centric visual metaphors. Science IS fun when you use balloon animals, legos and gummy bears - and use map real estate to build on the metaphor, as seen on the balloon animal poster with instructions for making the balloon dog.

The ads utilize an important principle of mapping: map as platform to expand your brand. The map employs the Brainobrain Jumeira program signature approach of whole brain development-based education for children by "activating left and right hemispheres of the brain," through the use of both logical and creative elements (i.e. visual information). Truly an excellent example of how proper execution of information design can reinforce the connection between your brand and your audience.

Ads that make you smarter - go figure!

Map O’ The Day #48 – Life: Start Here...

Today’s MOTD comes from a superstar in the infographic world, Megan Jaegerman. Recognized for her work in the news industry by Edward Tufte, Jaegerman, “produced some of the best news graphics ever while working at The New York Times from 1990 to 1998. Her work has been described as smart, finely detailed, elegant, witty, inventive, informative.”

This specific graphic revolves around an average lifecycle for a woman, and is laid out in a game board format. Notice how the use of varied element styles, from dolls and figurines to silhouettes and cartoon illustration gives significant vibrancy to a normally ominous message, specifically, health risks associated with aging.

Be sure to read through this one...there are some quite comical messages.

Map O’ The Day #47 – Taking The Train

Today’s image was found off of the Subway Systems websites, @ world.nycsubway.org, and displays daily subway ride statistics.

Other than enjoying the layout, which allows for easy conclusions to be drawn about the data, I thought that the conceptual route maps of each city was a nice second substrata of information.

Moreover, the bright yellow column along the right hand side of the image is chokful of information about each city, from founding date of the route, to the average single ride fare.

Map O’ The Day #46 – The History of Film & Gaming

Created by TrendONE / BVDW Virtual Think in Germany, this infographic shows a the history, current state, and future projections for the increasingly merged worlds of gaming and film. Worth a read through for those of you who are into either!

Map O’ The Day #45 – Burning Fuel

This MOTD was created by the NY Times as a part of a campaign to raise awareness around the fight against global warming. Aside from being visually appealing, the graphic shows the interesting comparison of energy usage between automobiles and human beings. Moreover, the image reveals horrifying figures around caloric value in some of our favorite foods, which may prompt a few of us to go for the banana over a bloomin’ onion the next time were “fueling up.”

On a side note, this graphic makes an excellent case for a principle of mapping: Selection. When crafting a map, info graphic, or image, strict adherence ought be paid to the categories and specific items that should be displayed, both in terms of their individual and relative values.

Imagine if this New York times example had shown a car’s fuel requirements against that of almost ANY other animal. The narrative and emotive value of the comparison instantly declines, in effect, scuttling the intended messaging of the artifact.

The consequences from choosing either incorrect, or inferior, information types and mediums, can be range from a substandard story to an unintentional skewing of information away from the desired communication.