“This application prototype is part of the Master thesis ‘The Form of Facts and Figures,’ developed by Christian Behrens in the Interface Design program at Potsdam University of Applied Sciences. Its goal is the development of of a design pattern taxonomy for the field of data visualization and information design.”

“However, the works that caught my eyes was that of Stefanie Posavec. Stefanie’s maps capture something above and beyond that of the others. Rather than mapping physical geography, her maps capture regularities and patterns within a literary space. The pieces featured in On the Map focused on Kerouac’s On the Road. The maps visually represent the rhythm and structure of Kerouac’s literary space, creating works that are not only gorgeous from the point of view of graphic design, but also exhibit scientific rigor and precision in their formulation: meticulous scouring the surface of the text, highlighting and noting sentence length, prosody and themes, Posavec’s approach to the text is not unlike that of a surveyor.” (Thanks kottke.org!)

“Visualizing Information: An Introduction to Information Design is a booklet I wrote and designed to introduce advocacy organizations to basic principles and techniques of information design. It’s full of examples of interesting design from groups around the world in a variety of media and forms. It has tips, exercises, and even recommended Free Software packages to help polish up your graphics.”

A presentation by former XPLANEr Eric Lewallen at Ignite Portland 2. (Thanks Jon!)

“This website attempts to walk you through the long and diverse history of a particular aspect of human endeavour: The translation of ideas, stories and concepts that are largely textual and/or word based into a visual format, i.e. visual communication.”

“After 54 weeks of gestating, the 2007 annual report has finally hatched. It was a typical year that saw me entering my 30th year, tasting a few new things, drinking a bit less and learning more about feline dentistry than I had expected. I hope you will enjoy it.”

The visual approach of these charts on religious topics is pretty impressive, having been created between 1914 and 1919. This collection includes information graphics describing “the history of man through the ages, the contrasts of the church and the kingdom, the different positions of the “church” in the Bible, the three heavens found in the Scriptures, how the prophets viewed prophecy, an illustrative view of the Ages and Dispensations, the failure of man in every dispensation, overview of the second coming of Christ, view of all the resurrections and judgments found in the Bible and an illustration of the different aspects of the spirit world.”

From The Economist: “A good graphic can tell a story, bring a lump to the throat, even change policies. Here are three of history’s best.”

“Bringing together leaders in visual thinking for the first time in one location, the VizThink ‘08 Conference (http://www.vizthink.com) is an opportunity for executives to understand ways of incorporating visualization processes into business, learning and communications strategies to gain faster and more effective results. Hosted by Portland, Ore. based VizThink LLC, the conference will include breakout sessions and forums facilitated by some of the most recognized names in the visual thinking space, including the distinguished Bob Horn from Stanford University, renowned author and artist Scott McCloud, award winning designer Nancy Duarte of Duarte Design, most notably known for her work in Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, and Nigel Holmes formerly with Time magazine. The conference will be held at the Westin San Francisco Market Street Hotel from January 27-29. Registration (http://www.vizthink.com/reg.html) is open now.”

“Most of us need to make the time to go out on walks, swim, collect little bits of things, take photos, get drunk (or not), talk to friends, etc. So, you have to wonder, who wouldn’t want to spend 5 nights on an island while talking about and working with type? British Columbia in the summertime is heaven on earth—a place where most people would be happy to kick back and relax for a week, but if you’re into typography you can relax your body and exercise your brain at the same time. Three typographers, Marian Bantjes, Shelley Gruendler and Ross Mills will offer differing and convergent approaches to type in a relaxed but structured program over five days. [Note: This session is over but more are planned, like the one below.]

Type Camp—INFO DESIGN: 10-15 August 2008 | We’ll bring a bit of the Bauhaus to Canada with the head Info Design instructor, Jay Rutherford. Jay is a Professor of Visual Communications at the Faculty of Art and Design at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany.” (Thanks Chris Glass!)

“Amy Wang’s graduate thesis project, Ametrica!, was recently honored as a winner in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards. Amy is a recent graduate from the School of Visual Arts MFA Designer as Author program. She discusses her process of discover and her intention to spread the message that the U.S. should adopt the metric system.” (Thanks On Paper Wings!)

Noah Iliinsky: “My master’s thesis is a system for creating good diagrams. It starts with the basics of perception and cognition, and walks the reader through the process of making appropriate choices for their particular design problem.”

“Checking out the New York Times’s infographic on the housing bubble, I thought ‘wow! Look at how much prices climbed!’. Then I read the fine print and realized they’ve completely distorted the vertical scale to make the increase look enormous.”

“The emerging field of visualization studies examines the use of pictures to improve the access to information, the quality of software, or the communication of knowledge. Prominent research fields in this area are information visualization (a domain of computer science), scientific visualization, or software visualization. Other highly relevant research sectors for the understanding of pictures in communication are design studies and the psychology of perception.”

“I’m Enrico Bertini a postdoc researcher at the Departement of Informatics at University of Fribourg, Switzerland. My research activity focuses mainly on Information Visualization, that is, graphical interactive interfaces to access complex and/or large volume information to extract knowledge and support the formation and assessment of hypothesis.”