There's some cool bits of info on here, but looking at fancy infographics always make me think the same thing: the people who make these should take a class on presenting data that isn't aimed at designers. So much of the data is poorly presented for the sake of minimalism or other design aesthetics. Who thought it would be a good idea to take a simple X Y graph and curve one axis? It completely destroys my ability to extract any information out of it. The first chart: what trend am I supposed to be seeing here? The presentation of the data makes it seem like there isn't much of one. Or what about this one: http://www.wired.com/design/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/TG-4.... The title says good stuffing has lots of ingredients, but does the data even say that? The only data points are the 5 top rated recipes, not ranked in any way, and joined by some pointless shape fill. Am I missing something? (Barely) three of the data points are on the side of more ingredients (which is how many? you can't even see) and we're supposed to believe a trend here? There's all sorts of lousy data presentation and sketchy data interpretation smeared across this (or practically any) infographic set.
Nice post! But I just have to correct this 'map'. http://www.wired.com/design/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/2111F... First of all, it immediately reminds me of this xkcd. On top of that, the interpolation method used, probably IDW (inverse distance weighed) has a far too large radius. This causes the massive hill in between the East Coast cities, and not at the cities themselves, as that area is bumped up by Chicago, Atlanta, NYC and the rest of the large cities there. Either the map is poorly made or Ohio is the pinnacle of food reviews.
Thanks! Do you work with or have you studied statistical measurements etc? I had to take a unit in undergrad; anything above what I would call basic stats is not exactly my strongest forte, heck I had to look up IDW to properly grasp it haha. I get a sense that Ohio is not going to be the pinnacle of food reviews, as it'd be a shame if the maps are then poorly/innaccurately made as a result. Still, something pretty to look at I guess. Also dig the XKCD - it may be a joke, but they say there's a little truth behind every joke ;D
Well, I just followed a course on geographical information systems, where I've learned how to make spatial analyses and derive maps from them. IDW was one of the used spatial analytic methods, I wasn't really expecting people to know it. The map is pretty but I just get irrationally angry when people make shitty maps. Just like incorrect kerning. So irritating, I have to correct it.
GIS is something I've wanted to look into, and could probably wrap my head around a lot more easily. Completely understand when you see something done poorly and want to correct it, it shows you're passionate about something! Hopefully this video will give you a good laugh, even if the maps are purposefully bad!