seriously have such respect for nicholas felton and his magical ability to take all sorts of random data and make it visually stunning. his series of personal annual reports are enough to short circuit my brain from all of the awesomeness…and really question my design ability.
fist bump, sir.
today’s visual awesomeness: when world problems collide.
Earthquakes and Wars | John Jerome O’Connor
graphite, colored pencil, gesso on paper, 2003
53 inches x 83 inches
I began this drawing by recording the dates of the ten largest earthquakes and wars in the United States. I also recorded and included other pertinent information such as duration, location, severity, etc. The upper and lower stripes or bars correspond to the dates of the quakes and wars – the lengths of the stripes equal the dates (i.e. 1994 = 1 inch, 9 inches, etc.). I also developed a system to determine the color of each stripe. After I drew the stripes, I looked for patterns in the actual dates and the space(s) left between the sets of stripes. As with other works, I tried to look for similarities, an interconnectedness – principles or systems that may guide seemingly disparate phenomena. I tried various ways to create a form that would link the sets of bars and I eventually arrived at the organic central shape. To do this I measured from the end of each bar a distance based on the duration of the wars and the size of the quakes (translated into centimeters), and connected the resulting points. I thought of this process as a phase transition, in which one system is transformed into another. The information I placed throughout the drawing also relates to the conceptual similarities I observed. One concept that each phenomena seemed to have in common was the critical state, a kind of organization characterized by a tendency toward sudden and tumultuous change, one that seems to arise naturally under diverse conditions when a system gets pushed away from equilibrium. Another principle that I thought might determine the frequency of wars and quakes, was the butterfly effect. This effect, in which a simple occurrence can have much greater consequences, is what begins the process culminating in a critical state. I tried to make the central shape resemble the entirety of the butterfly effect, yet in reverse – it is at once a type of growth system and simultaneously a contained, definable form.
graphs + data = boring. until now! the creative minds at infographiti have taken info-graphics to a whole new level. they are literally works of art (see also: they have appeared in museums). I would hang these in my house!
infographiti No. 22 | EU Recovery forecasts
Infographiti No. 17 | Energy consumption vs Population
Infographiti No. 12 | Adult Obesity
Infographiti No. 9 | Arctic sea ice extent - the different measures
