piksels

Today I came across two very noteworthy examples of clever information design which make understanding sets of data both more visual and relative. The best way to grasp what data means is often to put it into perspective with other sets of data so you can easily make a comparison. This is when charts and illustrations quickly become a better data medium than numbers.

How the World Really Shapes Up

The first example takes a map of the world and distorts each region size, relevant to the category it is in. For example, while viewing the map on HIV presence, Africa will be bloated compared to the rest of the world.

See more maps or read more about the project at the UK Daily Mail.

(These maps were produced together by the universities of Michigan and Sheffield)

Size of the Universe

Universcale is a very interactive example of helping us putting into perspective the size of the universe. We quickly can understand how small we are compared to the billions of light years which span across the universe, whilst still being millions of times larger than the building blocks which make up the universe.

(I found Universcale through a design website which I frequently visit, Position Absolute)

Here is a video which also helps us fathom just how large the universe really is

I’ve been interested in interaction design for quite a while, and when I came across DontClickIt, I was impressed. I’ve seen all types of interactive applications, but I’ve never seen a clickless design feel so seamless. Check it out yourself:

What I like most about this, is that instead of just showing us a new method of interaction, it tries to challenge our current default method of ‘click interaction’ and have us question whether it is necessary.

Although it is debatable to which extent a ‘clickless interaction’ is functional and ideal, it is nice to see people challenging our default methods of interaction, and showing us something new.

Anyone who is interested in Interaction Design, Information Architecture, or Visual hierarchy should visit Information Aesthetics a great blog updated daily.