Annotations are what set visual communication and journalism apart from just visualization. They often consist of text, but some of the most useful annotations are graphical elements, and many of them are very simple. One type I have a particular fondness for is the diagonal reference line, which has been used to provide powerful context in past news pieces, and is making a comeback in the COVID-19 charts.
eagereyes
Visualization and Visual Communication
Main Content
The Visual Evolution of the “Flattening the Curve” Information Graphic
Communication has been quite a challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic, and data visualization hasn't been the most helpful given the low quality of the data – see Amanda Makulec's plea to think harder about making another coronavirus chart. A great example of how to do things right is the widely-circulated Flatten the Curve information graphic/cartoon. Here's a look at the work it is built on and how that has evolved from a figure in an academic paper to one of the clearest pieces of visual communication in some time.
eagereyesTV: What Is Data? Part 2, Are Images Data?
Visualization turns data into images, but are images themselves data? There are often claims that they are, but then you mostly see the images themselves without much additional data. In this video, I look at image browsers, a project classifying selfies along a number of criteria, and the additional information stored in HEIC that makes […]
ISOTYPE Book: Young, Prager, There’s Work for All
This book from 1945 contains a very interesting mix of different charts made by the ISOTYPE Institute, some classic and some quite unusual. As a book about labor and unemployment, it also makes extensive use of Gerd Arntz’s famous unemployed man icon.
Starter Pack
Some essentials to get you started on this site.
ZIPScribble Map
What happens when you connect all the ZIP codes in the U.S. in order? It's a surprising and interesting pattern. Explore yourself!
Pie Charts
Think you know pie charts? Here's an overview, tips&tricks, and cutting-edge research on the chart everybody loves to hate.
Techniques
Bar charts, pie charts, parallel coordinates, Venn diagrams, … What are they? How do they work? Which one do you use for what?
Papers
When I publish scientific papers, I write about them here. There's research on visualization techniques, perception, and other topics.
Calendar
eagereyes has been around for a bit! This interactive calendar lets you explore more than ten years' worth of content.