Most Popular Time of Year To Go Single: Information Design | TECH / BUSINESS

Just caught this intelligent presentation from David McCandless' at TED (from August 2010) called, 'The Beauty of data visualizations'.

David McCandless turns complex data sets (like worldwide military spending, media buzz, Facebook status updates) into beautiful, simple diagrams that tease out unseen patterns and connections. Good design, he suggests, is the best way to navigate information glut -- and it may just change the way we see the world.
[via YouTube]

We found our way to the vid by way of this humorous and intriguing chart (via Best Week Ever via mathiasmikkelsen.com) generated by information gathered on Facebook on 'peak breakup times':

(With information compiled from 10,000 Facebook status updates, the above chart visualizes specific peaks and lulls of user breakups during the course of a year.)

Point is, our sense of vision can so beautifully illustrate (pun intended) how we comprehend and engage with information. Nothing new, really -- but McCandless does an impressive job at pointing at the effectivity of visualizing information.

Over the years, we've found that our clients have increasingly responded more excitingly to highly visual reports and presentations, with less text. With more access to fancier chart-building tools, programs and applications that can easily retool information into a visual format, this trend will certainly keep on the up.

Enter more professional opportunities and schools offering education in Information Design.

-jmd