Category: Design
Ping and prod
David McCandless is justifiably famous for his work at Information is Beautiful but as his bio on the TED website says, his “genius is not so much in finding jazzy new ways to show data [...] but in finding fresh ways to combine datasets to let them ping and prod each other.”
With free tools such as Many Eyes and Tableau it’s becoming easier and easier to visualise data (though making it look beautiful is another matter).
The real challenge now is in finding and curating data to tell a new, compelling story.
Serious, not solemn
“Great design is serious (not solemn),” says Paula Scher, a New York based partner at design firm Pentagram. She argues that you do your best work when you’re having fun, exploring and not pressured by expectations.
I find the key is finding somewhere in between: creative work needs a combination of space and freedom but also a clear problem to solve.
Need more Paula Scher? Hillman Curtis has a video discussing type as image that’s also worth watching.
CNN redesigns
Read a deconstruction of the relaunched CNN site. The new site sports new index pages, story pages and a strong focus on ‘popularity’ with the News Pulse section.
Talking re-design
Designers Prem Krishnamurthy and Rob Giampietro talk about their online design of Tablet Magazine, and the different places they found inspiration to shape the design. Interestingly, during the audio slide show, you get a quick look at the intial three directions they took.
Once a morning ritual and read over breakfast or on the commute to work, newspapers have found their “what’s happening today?” role replaced by websites and tv networks offering a continuous stream of news for free. How are they adjusting to this shifting demand?
A great introduction
Khoi Vinh has linked to a great redesign walkthrough of the new NPR.org site. It is a beautiful piece of video that proves that even somthing like an introduction to a redesign can have a nice narrated story.
Listen to your users
Among a slew of newspaper redesigns that are utilising more magazine-driven layouts popping with colour and graphics, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has launched a new design that uses more solid columns of text and smaller photos than most.