Happiness & Sunshine Infographic

Vain showcase of my Arena-Quantum work for Fly Thomas Cook...I worked with Leigh on this project from last November. At Quantum we had idea collisions, ravaging research and idea infernos until concept got nailed and data tracked down. With data and concept in hand I tracked down the hottest, rockin, design/illustration talent out there, had some tea, biscuits, words and dreams until Willy Wonka production process was complete. Bang, hey presto what do you thinko?

There aren't many infographics as pleasing to the eye as this one designed for Fly Thomas Cook by Leigh Riley. It's full of fun and interesting facts about sunshine and the circular graph at the top proves there's really no correlation between sunshine, life satisfaction and life expectancy but it's good to find out where on earth you can find a balance between these factors...there are some x-fac details too; the slightly grubby hand smudges around the edges of the paper, the Thomas cook stamp at the top or luggage label at the bottom. The Top 5 Destinations are a nice touch too with the bright yellow flight paths revealing the data. Tip top ten outa ten Leigh!

Infographic brought to you by flythomascook.com

Japan and Nuclear Meltdown Infographics

No one would want to have been through the natural terror experience by so much of the world over the last few weeks. I guess one of the scariest scenes right now aside from Africa and the Middle East and New Zealand and Australia....is the possible nuclear fall out in Japan.

Is this a time to reconsider filling more and more of our energy needs with nuclear, sh*t is dangerous yo! My heart goes out to the world.

I found these graphics in the Guardian today to keep you more updated with the situation,

Terrible Infographics + Hangover = RANT

I've just come across some of the worst infographics I have ever seen in my life. Looking at these in my present condition makes me feel ill.

Really what retard made this guff. Here's a shout out to the sh**iest infographics on the market, if I find more I will post more and humiliate more.

I have personal hatred for Lady Gaga. She encompasses all that is bad with the world...told you I was in a tip top mood. Despite the horror of a blind designer who made this crap, I can't help but laugh at the Charlie Sheen "I am awesome" stuff that is popping up all over...following the success of the Charlie cult I cannot help thinking how much more awesome he is over Tom Cruise or the other deadbeat Hollywood stars.

To make up for the terrible, abhorrent, appalling, atrocious, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, beastly, dangerous, desperate, dire, disastrous, disturbing, dread, dreaded, dreadful, extreme, fearful, frightful, ghastly, gruesome, harrowing, hateful, hideous, horrendous, horrid, horrifying, inconvenient, loathsome, monstrous, obnoxious, odious, offensive, petrifying, poor, repulsive, revolting, rotten, serious, severe, shocking, unfortunate, unnerving, unpleasant, unwelcome, vile artwork, I'll leave you with my new favourite song!

Gender Gap: How Police Pay Compares in UK

An independent review of police pay and conditions in England and Wales has called for the end of a series of allowances and special payments.

According to BBC,


Officers on front-line duties could see their pay rise, but 40% face wage cuts of up to £4,000 a year.
The Association of Chief Police Officers warns 28,000 jobs may go, and the Police Federation of England and Wales says it would be "devastating".


Hot topic huh as the austerity continues to infect everything...found this infographic on police pay in the Times today,

ISOTYPE awesomeness

Universal symbols have been around donkey's years but they are as useful as ever. From road signs to app icons, symbols prove their value everywhere; being worth many words and transcending many languages.

Around 1925, Otto Neurath, decided to create a standard for showing social, technological, biological and historical connections in pictorial form. This standard became known as Isotype (International System of Typographic Picture Education). Cool eh. You can see how visual language has been carried into our everyday lives today just by looking at some of the original examples. Recognise the 'settings' icon in the pic below.

There's an Isotype exhibition at the V&A right now till the 13th March; well worth a peak given Otto's foundation for modern symbols. “Visual education” was always the prime motive behind Isotype and that too is no more relevant today in our globally connected community. As the proliferation of data visualization continues it's handy and a time-saver to know how others have already done it.

Funny; the employment chart between gender, I posted about a week ago was done way back in 1940 in the Isotype style:

Battle for BSkyB Infographic

Found this in the Times today. I'm not so sure we get unbias news at the best of times so come on Murdoch, do your worst!

OIL: Is it a scam?

2.5 Trillion Oil Scam

Infographic: The Perfect Nippy

In 1926 there was a staff competition to choose a nickname for Lyon’s teashops’ waitresses -- the former name of ‘Gladys’ was now seen as old fashioned. Waitresses wore starched caps with big, red ‘L’ embroidered in the centre, a black Alpaca dress with a double row of pearl buttons sewn with red cotton and white detachable cuffs and collar, a white square apron worn at dropped-waist level. The name ‘Nippy’ was eventually chosen, presumably because the waitresses nipped speedily around -- often trying to avoid the advances of middle-aged men like Harold Davidson no doubt.

Read more & respect Nickel in the Machine blog for this.