Great infographics have been produced by Edward Tufte, Megan Jaegerman (above graphic) and others. However, as infographics grow in popularity as a method of communication we are seeing shockgraphics evolve that are really just agenda based design. They are identifiable by the lack of scientific approach, big fonts, oversized icons or reliance on 3D. Generally they are politically or marketing motivated.

The recent spate of shockgraphics are designed to elicit an emotional response. Instead Tufte and Jaegerman display information in an enjoyable and educative way. They achieve this by helping people make unemotional judgement, making it interesting and also visually appealing all in one. Data should always be relative and clear of chartjunk. Without relativity there is no benchmark or position of judgement.

Here’s an example of a shockgraphic based on the US unfunded debt.

Instead, if I said that this debt is a big as all of the molecules on the surface of a pin head -or- that it’s the equivalent of a debt repayable until retirement of $25 per week per US citizen then it’s not quite as scary or interesting. This isn’t to say the US doesn’t have a debt problem, it does.

By not providing the reader with relative information to allow you to benchmark their conclusive representation it becomes a misleading graphic. It just becomes a FUD graphic.

Good infographics should give data a powerful voice and not an emotive one that shouts at you.

Great job by Creative Apps and hat tip to Jake Lodwick.

Record Makers Promo from CreativeApplications.Net on Vimeo.

He generally finds songs he likes on YouTube or on the back of our CD’s. Once he knows the songs name he searches YouTube for people who play that song using a Piano and learns their keystrokes. It might not be finger choice or timing perfect but I think he is getting the notes right. On the weekend he wanted to get his efforts up on YouTube like the other “Piano People”. Being a parent who wants to encourage kids to create content I helped him upload a video taken from an iPhone into my YouTube account. So here’s Caleb playing Clocks by Coldplay…

Personas is a component of the Metropath(ologies) exhibit, recently on display at the MIT Museum by the Sociable Media Group from the MIT Media Lab (Please contact us if you want to show it next!). It uses sophisticated natural language processing and the Internet to create a data portrait of one’s aggregated online identity. In short, Personas shows you how the Internet sees you.

Animator and film clip director extraordinaire Brendan Cook emerged from his studio with this amazing film clip for Gotye’s Heart’s A Mess (radio edit).

Hat tip: Portable Film Festival