The best infographics of 2012

Here you can find a selection of the best infographics of 2012. Above, you will find some of my favorites. Hope you enjoy as much as I did.

A Rig That Turns Guitar Licks Into Light Constellations, In Real Time
Rock concert light shows certainly add to the ambience, but wouldn’t it be cool if they were controlled by what the musicians were actually playing? That’s the idea behind Mesh Experience, a project by three German ID students that uses an infrared camera and pair of projectors to turn a guitarist’s licks into constellations of light, in real time. Light jamming results in a groovy disco-ball smattering of light where intense solos produce dense spiderwebs of it.

Stamen Turns Facebook Sharing Into Intricate Digital Art
Earlier this year, Facebook gave the data viz specialists at Stamen a host of data related to three posts by Enterprise crew-member-cum-meme-master George Takei. These colorful, flower-like creations are what they came up with, showing social media sharing at its most beautiful and far-reaching (sorry, your status updates wouldn’t be quite as spectacular).

The 2,000 Most Important Films Of All Time

Cinema, as a medium, is complexly interrelated, with directors influencing other directors, films inspiring other films and genres occasionally giving birth to entirely new ones. But those relationships are far from being straightforward enough to fit in a standard family tree. Instead, HistoryShots put together this massive, sloping map of the 2,000 “most important films” of all tim, arranged by genre and release date.

                     

Humans Are Just A Twig On The Tree Of Life

How did we get from the simplest primordial bacteria to the sophisticated race of Reality TV-inventing bipeds we are today? And how do we relate to everything that popped up in-between? That’s what this graphic shows--3.5 billion years of evolution in one gorgeous rainbow swirl.

                           

Swimming’s Most Exciting Race, Re-Created In Pure Data
My exposure to top-level swimming is limited to the summer Olympics every four years, but even a neophyte like me can appreciate the intensity of the 50-meter freestyle sprint. No laps, no pacing, no turning--just one length down the pool as fast as your body can manage. This infographic turns that over-before-you-know-it madness into an elegant series of swooping lines, visualizing the 50-meter freestyle event in Barcelona, 2003, where Russia’s Alexander Popov beat Great Britain’s Mark Foster by 0.28 seconds to win the race.

11 Of The Most Influential Infographics Of The 19th Century

Oh, you thought infographics were invented, like, last year? Hardly. In September, Susan Schulten previewed her latest book, Mapping the Nation, which traces the explosion of graphic knowledge in the 19th Century. Here she picks out 11 of her favorite old-school data viz projects.

2012: The Year in Graphics

"Graphics and interactives from a year that included an election, the Olympics and a devastating hurricane. A selection of the graphics presented here include information about how they were created."

in New York Times

Link here.

INFOGRAPHICS: A Case Study in Social Media Demographics

Via: Online MBA Resource

Hello,

There is more than one reason why I decided to post this case study:

- I love infographics (and hope to post a lot more in the future);

- I am amazed with the amount of active users on social media (we are 7 billion on earth by now, but the most part without internet acces - and I mean less than a half);

- Social media are a huge part of our dayly life: we use it both for personal and professional reasons (mostly to stay in touch with friends, as you can read on the last diagram). So, I find it interesting to get to know a little more about who is connecting, where and why. Also, this kind of information might be usefull, for instance, if you are wondering about the best social media to spread the word about a product or a service or even if you're looking for a job!

- It is very surprising that the average age on Facebook is 45 years old (allways thought the younger would "win");

- I couldn't finish without talking a bit about the design: although the color legend is a little hard to follow (unless you have a good memory, which is not my case), I think the parallel between social media and planets was well achieved; the main subject are virtual Worlds, with all of us orbiting like satellites around them.

PS: don't forget to connect with real life!
V.