That's somewhat unfair to the site - they are very much still exploring how to visualize information understandably and aesthetically pleasing. Yes, they got started when infographics got really popular, but it's very much a site that's alive and continuing its work.
And really, infographics are rooted in information design. Which in itself is much older than the web. Heck, the canonical popular book - Tufte's The Visual Display of Quantitative Information - is from 1982.
I know it's not the most popular thing if you can just ask Claude for a quick visualization, but the space is both very rich in information LLMs blissfully ignore, and continues to be fertile ground for explaration.
“A visual guide to how the world really works, through stunning infographics and data visualisations, thoroughly revised, recalculated and reimagined for this new edition.
We are overwhelmed by information – from our phones, our televisions, our computers, our newspapers.
This new edition of Information is Beautiful has been revised throughout with over 20 updates and 20 new visualisations. It offers shelter from the flood by visualising data in a new way that blends facts with their connections, their context and their relationships – making information meaningful, entertaining and beautiful.
This is information like you have never seen it before – easy to flick through but also engaging enough to study – information that comes to life in your hands and your eyes.”
I remember it well (used to see it for sale in the gift shop at design galleries and the like), I coveted it but never bought it :(
Perhaps I should treat myself now that I'm not so impoverished :)
I used to browse r/dataisbeautiful. Kind of infuriating. Way over half the visualisations were objectively terrible and misleading. The worst was that trend of dividing countries into totally arbitrary equal-population areas.
I once tried to post an interesting visualization to r/dataisbeautiful and received hundreds of upvotes, but then it was wiped for an unknown reason. Then I contacted the mods, both on Reddit and over email, to no avail.
It was a very frustrating experience, don't recommend anyone to try.
"community based on morals", how things change in 15 years https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/left-vs-ri...
From the heyday of infographics, when newspapers went online and explored its opportunities.
edit: I did not mean to imply information design is dead.
That's somewhat unfair to the site - they are very much still exploring how to visualize information understandably and aesthetically pleasing. Yes, they got started when infographics got really popular, but it's very much a site that's alive and continuing its work.
And really, infographics are rooted in information design. Which in itself is much older than the web. Heck, the canonical popular book - Tufte's The Visual Display of Quantitative Information - is from 1982.
I know it's not the most popular thing if you can just ask Claude for a quick visualization, but the space is both very rich in information LLMs blissfully ignore, and continues to be fertile ground for explaration.
The Book: https://www.amazon.ie/Information-Beautiful-New-David-McCand...
“A visual guide to how the world really works, through stunning infographics and data visualisations, thoroughly revised, recalculated and reimagined for this new edition.
We are overwhelmed by information – from our phones, our televisions, our computers, our newspapers.
This new edition of Information is Beautiful has been revised throughout with over 20 updates and 20 new visualisations. It offers shelter from the flood by visualising data in a new way that blends facts with their connections, their context and their relationships – making information meaningful, entertaining and beautiful.
This is information like you have never seen it before – easy to flick through but also engaging enough to study – information that comes to life in your hands and your eyes.”
I remember it well (used to see it for sale in the gift shop at design galleries and the like), I coveted it but never bought it :(
Perhaps I should treat myself now that I'm not so impoverished :)
I was given that book as a teenager, and only read it yesterday. It was an interesting look at an unintentional frozen point in history.
I used to browse r/dataisbeautiful. Kind of infuriating. Way over half the visualisations were objectively terrible and misleading. The worst was that trend of dividing countries into totally arbitrary equal-population areas.
I once tried to post an interesting visualization to r/dataisbeautiful and received hundreds of upvotes, but then it was wiped for an unknown reason. Then I contacted the mods, both on Reddit and over email, to no avail.
It was a very frustrating experience, don't recommend anyone to try.