I just finished watching the sequel to Wall Street, directed again by Oliver Stone, and I couldn't resist the urge to write a short note on its use of infographics. There are tons of charts in the movie (that's predictable, I guess), but also nice motion graphics and animated diagrams. The most interesting example is the one on the picture above.
Every other week I find a message in my Inbox asking for books on infographics. Bad news is that there is not a single book that summarizes what you need to know if you wish to get started in this field (my own The Functional Art wishes to fill that gap), but there are plenty of texts from other disciplines that can come in handy. A few notes: (A) I have written this article with both the rookie and the professional in mind, and as a reading path based on my own: what to read first, and what comes next if you want to get deeper into this fascinating world. (B) I am assuming you have a good grasp of Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and the like; if you don't, I would recommend Lynda for online training on software. I am not listing any program manual. (C) I will only comment books that I've read and used extensively.
Ready? Then, let's go!
Short of interview about my (little) taste for gadgets and technology in the leading Spanish newspaper.
Interview published during a consulting and training job in the city of El Salvador. It is a two-page story written right after I got out of the plane from the US (that explains me being so pale---).
Interview published during one of my visits to Caracas, in May 2009, in Últimas Noticias, sunday edition. The interview is about the basics of infographics, how important they are to deal with information overload, the future of visual education in schools, etc.
Some simple-looking graphics are the hardest to produce. In the month that I've spent as director for Infographics at Editora Globo (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and its weekly Época, the one above is among the best we've done. It's title is Waiting for Sanctity, and it deals with the fact that even if Brazil is the country with a largest number of catholics in the world, it only has 2 saints, with around 70 people waiting in line to be considered for that position. It was published right before the start of the Holy Week, in April.
It seems to be a pretty straightforward project. So why do I consider it special and why was it hard to produce?
As I announced in Twitter a few months ago, I stopped being a full-time faculty member at the School of Journalism at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in December 2009. It was a tough but inevitable decission, due to personal reasons. Where am I now? In Sao Paulo, Brazil. Keep reading this article to find out more.
The latest issue of the Spanish version of MacWorld Magazine includes a brief interview with me (in Spanish), written by Pablo Blasberg. Click on the image to see a bigger version of it.