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Pintrest is such an amazing tool, and I’ve embraced and used it as much as possible to market my blog, to pin research I’m doing for a project, to save recipes and cute shoes, and to remember books on my “to read” list.

Superteachers can really embrace Pintrest in the classroom as a source tracking tool.  The course I teach is called Professional Communication and Presentation, and we are focused not only on developing strong content but also strong visual presentation.  Pintest can be used in my class to pin source material for presentations as well as to pin images to use in a presentation.  Superteachers who have used Pintrest: how did you implement the website in your classroom?

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When I say this book is for “curious people,” I truly do mean it.  Seth Godin talks about curiosity here and explains that “a fundamentalist is a person who considers whether a fact is acceptable to their faith before they explore it” (Source).  On the opposite pole, says Godin, are those who are curious.  ”A curious person explores first and then considers whether or not they want to accept the ramifications” (Source).  This isn’t to say a fundamentalist reader wouldn’t enjoy McCandless’s work; however, this is a text that challenges the core beliefs we all hold as “the truth.”  McCandless explores science, politics, and religion visually in his book in a way that facilitates learning, questioning, and growing for those of us who are truly curious.  I personally took a deeper look into my current belief system and examined the similarities between people who think like me and people who have opposite beliefs (both politically and religiously).  It was a wonderful close examination of core values and ideals, and I think all of us should allow our belief system to undergo this kind of analysis and scrutiny.  For example, see page 14 and 15 for an examination of government and pages 46 and 47 to compare and contrast ideas about creation.

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Of course, McCandless also explores more fun and frivolous topics, and the author proves his sense of humor on nearly every page.  For example, check out “Excuse Us: Reasons For Divorce” on page 64.  The top reason for men to want a divorce compared with the top reason for women to want a divorce made me laugh out loud.

I am an enormous McCandless supporter and fan.  I wrote “In Defense of David McCandless” and “In Defense of Infographics” based upon my analysis of his work.  Since I’m obviously biased, I did want to include a few reviews of The Visual Miscellaneum…

Our of 231 ratings and 50 reviews on Goodreads.com, the book earned a score of 3.81 out of 5 stars.  93% of people liked the book (Source).  Consider this review: ”Over and over again, McCandless attributes the data in his infographics to Google, Wikipedia, or other unreliable and/or unintelligible sources” (Source).

FlowingData writes, “With that said, not every graphic is perfect. There were a few where I wasn’t sure what I was looking at or it took a little while for me to process, but that’s what I was expecting. Many of the graphics are probably experiments in design more than they belong in a Tufte book” (Source).

I agree that this is no Envisioning Information, and remember that McCandless’s goal is always to show the meaning behind the data – to show relationships between facts in a meaningful way – with a few key principles in place.  McCandless wants to combine “information” and “design” in a way that is both functional and beautiful:

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Form (the beauty, structure, and appearance of a design) meets function (usefulness and usability) on the design spectrum.  Information-wise, McCandless emphasizes integrity (accuracy and honesty) as well as interestingness (meaningful and relevant information).  I do believe The Visual Miscellaneum is worth reading because the text gives example after example of successful information design.  Perfect information design?  No.  Successful information design?  Absolutely.

What amazing reads have you been enjoying lately?

“I’m writing to you regarding the upcoming release of Diagrammer.com, a new project from Duarte Design, the presentations communications agency responsible for many of the best-known presentations of recent years, including Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, and many TEDTalks and business presentations for Fortune 500 companies.

After 20 years designing presentations, the Duarte team studied and identified the most common, universal mistakes that result in weak presentation slides, and during the last two years have been at work developing Diagrammer.com, an online store and resource that stocks more than 4,000 slide diagrams taken from the sketchbooks of Duarte Inc.’s designers.

Diagrammer.com will launch tomorrow, Wednesday, March 14, and will allow anyone to find, purchase (for under a dollar) and use diagrams that convey variations on key concepts and messages commonly used in presentations and talks.”

Here’s a short video on Diagrammer:

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Diagrammer is definitely a great resource for budding presentation designers and business professionals.  For those who know how to use it, the “shapes” tool in Keynote works just fine for creating some of these diagrams, but for those who are working to develop our design skills, each diagram is only $0.99!  Duarte Designs is such an amazing company at the forefront of public speaking and presentation design, and I think Nancy Duarte is a genius, so I am a huge fan and supporter of all of the company’s products.

Have you tried Diagrammer yet?

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WHAT?!

Let’s first examine this argument: “Infographics display data that sucks – even in picture form [...] They expect that people won’t understand even the simplest data and put it in picture form that just complicates it even further” (Source).  According to statisticians, putting data in “picture form” actually helps people understand the data more clearly because people can read the story in the data.  David McCandless argues that visualizing data helps us “see the patterns and connections that matter” (Source).

Most data isn’t simple.  When we hear that Americans donate over $300 billion a year to charity, our minds cannot grasp how much money that is unless we can visualize it.  David McCandless lets us see how much money $300 billion is… by making it an infographic and comparing that amount to other amounts:

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When we can visualize $300 billion, we can understand the data.  Without the visualization, $300 billion is just a number – a really, really big number.  The data doesn’t suck; it’s actually extremely important – as it most data.  But we don’t understand the data until we see the visualization.

Everhart says, “I blame infographics for dumbing us down even more than reality television” (Source).  Reality television is 100% consumption.  We sit on our couches, shut off our brains, and decay.  Infographics, on the other hand, require actual mental activity.  Infographics help us process information, so when we view one, we learn and grow; our minds are working.  According to Edward R. Tufte, author of Envisioning Information and The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, “Often the most effective way to describe, explore, and summarize a set of numbers – even a very large set – is to look at pictures of those numbers” (Source).

So let’s do some TV watching to test Everhart’s theory, shall we?  If infographics “dumb us down even more than reality television,” let’s watch the TED Talk below.  It will take you as much time as an episode of a reality TV show:

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I can 100% guarantee you weren’t “dumbed down” by watching David McCandless.  Quite the opposite: I guarantee you learned more from one of his infographics than you have from any episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (or from all of RHOBH episodes put together).

The third argument is that infographics are “abysmal.” Everhart says, “If your infographic contains clip art, pie charts, bar graphs, or an abundance of typography, go back to the drawing board” (Source).  I agree with 2 components of her argument,  First, clip art should not be used for an infographic (or for visualization of any kind, for that matter).  Secondly, pie charts can be retooled into something greater.  John Tukey was responsible for infographics and data visualization as we know it today.  Tukey does argue that data displayed using a pie chart can be reworked and displayed better using another visualization format.  Similarly, Edward Tufte writes, “Given their low data-density and failure to order numbers along a visual dimension, pie charts should never be used” (Source).

However, bar graphs and typography are essential parts of data visualization that help us better understand complex data.  Need proof?  Consider both in the TED Talk “Hans Rosling shows the best stats you’ve ever seen.”  Watch Rosling’s beautiful and exciting bar graph here:

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Rosling proves that bar graphs work, and he proves at the 4:00 mark that infographics are far from dull, boring, and lifeless.  According to Visualize This: The FlowingData Guide to Design, Visualization, and Statistics, Nathan Yau, self-proclaimed “data junkie” and PhD candidate in statistics, explains, “Charts and graphs have also evolved into not just tools but also as vehicles to communicate ideas” (Source).  We understand from reading Yau’s book and seeing over 300 pages of examples that ”different visualization tools use different data formats, and the structure you use varies by the story you want to tell” (Source).

Typography refers to “the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible” (Source).  Obviously, without visible language, understanding most infographics would be impossible.

Everhart’s final argument is that, “Infographics aren’t all bad but enough of them have been done so blatantly bad that it has tarnished their reputation” (Source).  I haven’t seen too many bad infographics, but even if I’d seen 99 bad ones, this one by David McCandless would convince me that no, infographics’ reputations are not tarnished:

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Do you think infographics are dead?  What other arguments can you think of to support data visualization? 

*Thank you to Erin who corrected my misspelling of her name!  It is “Erin Everhart”

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Hopefully both will offer a greater insight into design, especially information design, so I can teach my students that yes, you can still apply Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen theories and principles even to data and information.  This reminds me of an incredible article by one of my favorites, Phil Waknell of Phil Presents.  Waknell explains that there are 3 situations people argue Presentation Zen cannot apply: 1) a boring subject, 2) a technical presentation, and 3) a review of business results (Source).  Waknell’s article is called “When you think Presentation Zen isn’t appropriate, that’s when you need it most” because even in the three scenarios above, especially in the three scenarios above, visual design as outlined by Garr Reynolds is essential.

Check back for reviews of both books soon!

What are you reading?

Image Credit: Daily Infographic

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Examining all 3 will show you similar facts.  You can visualize that 25 years ago, we weren’t an obese population.  From the early 1990s to today, the country had an average BMI of 10-19%.  In 2010, 12 states had a BMI of greater than 30%, and 24 additional states had a BMI of 25-29%.  You can visualize that now, in present day America, 72 million people are obese.  That is 1 in 3 or 72 million Americans.

David McCandless tells us that successful information design should contain integrity; interestingness; form; and function.  So let’s analyze each of the 3 infographics on obesity in America to see which is the most successful data visualization.

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The Daily Infographic was helpful because it was comprehensive, but it was also hideous.  The structure, beauty, and appearance – the overall form of the infographic  - was seriously lacking.  Similarly, the CDC infographic from Chart Porn would not be useful in all situations because it is an interactive map needing a “play” button.  The function was lacking because of the ease of use, usability, and fit: this map cannot work in every presentation situation.

So we are left with NPR’s exquisite “Obesity in America.”  It’s comprehensive.  Integrity is clearly represented by the source material below the data.  NPR took the CDC information and made a side-by-side comparison using an appropriate color scheme.  NPR’s infographic has interestingness and form because information is presented in a new, meaningful way with repetition, gorgeous color, and attention to visual presentation design.  Lastly, it is the easiest to use because it requires no “play” feature or clicking of “forward” and “back” buttons.

Which infographic did you like the best, and how did it fulfill the requirements David McCandles has set for good information design?

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Comment #1: “If I gave a presentation in the style of this book I’d be laughed out of the office. I’m an analyst, and the warm and fuzzy slides would not be good” (Source).  Let’s look at David McCandless.  He is an analyst.  He takes enormous quantities of data and turns that dense information into something we can all understand: an image.  People are visual.  We learn better when we can see what you are saying.  Learn more about McCandless here and here.

Comment #2: “You’ll see plenty to interest you, but unless you’re a full-fledged graphic designer you’ll never recreate these slides. Imagine putting this book (and the Reynold’s book) into a room with some of your worst slide creators, or even yourself. Would you see an improvement in their skills? I doubt it.” (Source).  I know firsthand the power of slide:ology because I have put it in a room with the worst slide creators and seen drastic improvement.  In fact, I’ve put these concepts in a room with 40-60 students every single month for nearly two years now.  When the students walk in on the first day of class, they use death-by-bulletpoint.  When they leave my classroom, most (easily 75%) grasp Duarte’s reasoning and understand why bullet points do not work.  They apply the picture superiority effect and minimize text on their slides.  Are they graphic designers?  No.  Do they understand that “visual presentation” should be “visual?”  Definitely!

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Comment #3: “But the true content is very thin, includes a load of chart junk (the anti-Tufte – I guess the true cue is in the title, this is a PowerPoint book) and page after page of abstract diagrams demonstrating “flow” – much like the woeful second half of “Say it with Charts” which is about 50 pages of arrows” (Source).  This sounds like a comment I’ve heard from students… students who haven’t actually read the text.  When I sit down with a student like this and go over Duarte’s concepts on diagrams, they totally get it.  For many people, including the reviewer who wrote Comment #3, reading doesn’t work.  Words on a page will never be a medium that resonates with them.  This is precisely why Duarte’s method works so well… because we all understand the power of simple visual aids combined with spoken word delivery.

Comment #4: “I look for things I can take away from a book and apply to my own situation. In this book I really didn’t get any specific take aways just fuzzy considerations” (Source).  No, there isn’t a template in Duarte’s book.  In fact, the point of the book is that templates do not work.  If you’re looking for a shortcut to creating a strong presentation, please listen carefully: there isn’t one!  You must actually work a little harder than usual to create a strong presentation.  Learn more about why templates do not work here.  Dr. Nick Morgan has a wealth of wonderful information on visual presentation on his website: Public Words.  Check it out here.

slide:ology is the textbook we use for the Professional Communication and Presentation course that I teach under Chiara Ojeda.  When I was first introduced to the text, I had an “Ah ha!” moment that changed my life.  The pre-slide:ology period is a time I refer to as “The Dark Ages,” but, thankfully, I now live in enlightenment.

Because I am a teacher, because I present on a daily basis, and because I’ve seen the difference Duarte’s practices have on over 1,000 students, I know this method works.  When I compare it to the method the reviewers above seem to be grasping at and holding onto so tightly, I see – clear as day – that Duarte’s method is more effective.

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Sure, we can continue to give presentations in the typical death-by-bulletpoint fashion.  And people will continue to immediately tune out and to choose to do something else.  Take the AJLI ODI Conference I attended earlier this month.  All but one presenter had us on our iPhones and tuning out because we could read her bulleted slides faster than she could talk.  We read the material and then stopped listening.  Our time was wasted because the presenter never spoke anything that we hadn’t already read on her slides; she was constantly playing catch-up in a game she would never, ever win.

Another example: teachers kill their students one bullet at a time at my school each and every day.  These instructors have similar attitudes as the reviewers above.  When confronted for the first time with Duarte’s method, students say, “Yeah. Teachers X and Y use bullets, and everyone falls asleep within 10 minutes.”

The proof that slide:ology works isn’t in the reviewers who don’t get it or who don’t have enough time to design slides or who want a template for everything.  The proof is in the audience.  Is your audience awake?  Does your audience lean forward to listen to you?  Is your audience engaged?  Does your audience stay after your presentation is over because they were so inspired that they want to know more?  If the answers to these questions are all “Yes,” then you’ve been following slide:ology‘s principles, and you’re creating great presentations that are changing the world.

“The Difference between a Selfish and Selfless Graphic Designer – Who Are You?” offers graphic designers tips on keeping the clients’ best interests in mind as opposed to your own.  Traits of a selfish designer are compared with traits of a selfless designer to contrast ways of thinking and subsequently working.  Read the article here.

My favorite infographic this week comes from my loves at Daily Infographic: DIY Filmmaker’s Toolkit.  I’ve been teaching film students for nearly two years now, and I love learning more about my students’ craft.  This infographic is gorgeous but also extremely interesting and helpful for budding filmmakers.

Looking at examples of advertisements that work help me craft my own visual presentations.  Though I already blogged about this link earlier in the week, I couldn’t help but add 26 Brilliant Minimalist Print Ads to my Links of the Week.  These ads follow the Presentation Zen method and are simple and refined.  I just adore the SanDisk examples and the Coca-Cola Lemon Peel ad, but they’re all magical.

A friend and fellow Chi Omega posted the 352 Digital Design Awards.  This web development and digital marketing company is awarding prizes for students in the areas of web design, digital campaigns, software interfaces, and multimedia.  Email your work to awards@352media.com by December 16th.

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The resume above was one of my favorites.  It is simple yet visually stunning.  It contains just the right text-to-infographic ratio, and I would love to recreate something like this for my own resume soon.

David McCandless also has an elegant visual resume which he displays in his TED Talk.  Watch it here.

Learn more about the Visual Resume assignment for Professional Communication and Presentation and see Chiara Ojeda’s visual resume here.

Do you have a visual resume?  What makes it stand out from the competition?

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Though I’m probably going at this backward, I started with David McCandless and worked my way back to McCandless’s “master,” Hans Rosling.  Even though I’m discovering him a little late, Rosling can teach us so much about data, presentation, and delivery.  Rosling is obviously so passionate about data that his audience laughs with delight (see 4:00).  His clear obsession with his topic makes us lean forward because we want to know more.  What a perfect example of inspiring an audience!

What TED Talks have you been watching lately?

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In this interview with BBC NewsNight (above), McCandless explains his work to David Sillito.  After the 6-minute introduction, McCandless then appears live on NewsNight in a debate-style piece with Neville Brody who is immediately given precedence over McCandless… the anchor calls him “the legendary designer.”  The anchor and Brody join in dismissing McCandless’s ideas.  Brody does so directly – he says, “the problem is trying to make information pretty.”  Brody then claims McCandless’s designs are “beguiling and seductive,” and he also dismisses McCandless’s work as “decoration.”  If you look at McCandless’s “good” information design chart (below), you can see that he strives not only for beauty, but also for honesty and integrity, function and useability, as well as meaningful and relevant data.

During the interview, Brody continuously mocks McCandless, and the anchor rarely lets McCandless finish a thought without interrupting him.  The anchor asks, “Why not just put information straight on the screen?”  She then calls his work “coffee table graphics.”

Both Brody and the anchor obviously miss the point.  If they were going to dissect McCandless’s work critically, which is a wonderful thing to do to all ideas and theories, Brody and the anchor could have at least done their homework to provide more coherent, relevant criticism.

Positive things do come out of the interview!  During the piece, we’re introduced to Stefanie Posavec of It’s Been Real.  Her work is magnificent.  My favorite is this visualization of literature: Literary Organism.  Of course, we meet Hans Rosling, the man McCandless calls “the master” and “his master” (Source).  Rosling delivers his TED Talk so passionately that you can’t help but be excited about information design.  Learning about these two figures helps to place McCandless in the world of data visualization, though, I would argue, he is far and away my favorite.

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Scary, right?  A compelling visual forces us to understand visually what we understand verbally (by reading or hearing the story).  Learn more about our exploding population here.

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Check out Kawasaki’s blog, How To Change The World, here.  Purchase your copy of Enchantment here.

On a personal note, I almost had a heart attack when Guy Kawasaki Tweeted me yesterday!

Follow Kawasaki here.  He is extremely active on Twitter with constant updates!

To me, “logical” most often translates to “boring.”  I’m an artistic, creative person, so data has never inspired me.  Luckily, David McCandless changed all of that!  (I previously blogged about him here and here.)  McCandless says this about himself: “A passion of mine is visualizing information – facts, data, ideas, subjects, issues, statistics, questions – all with the minimum of words” (Source).  He takes a lot of information, logos, and makes it visual.  For visually-driven thinkers like me, this is a great way to turn logos into something more design-oriented.

Here is one example:

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While McCandless didn’t design the infographic above, it is a beautiful example of data visualization.  Here are some beautiful information design websites starting, of course, with my favorite David McCandless:

Information Is Beautiful

Daily Infographic

Chart Porn

Visual Complexity

Visual Economics

What are your favorite information design websites?  How much does an infographic contribute to logos?

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David McCandless gives a TED Talk on The Beauty of Data Visualization.

Check out Information Is Beautiful, David McCandless’s website, here.  McCandless created a fascinating visual political map to show that “Left” and “Right” have more in common than we think.