Today I read about a new data set on Berlin’s quite new Open Data website. It was titled »Migration to and from Berlin« and made me very curious. I keep hearing that the city’s population is shrinking, but doubt that. After downloading the data, I opened it in Numbers and made a first quick graph. I was surprised—not because it showed that for a few years already, there are more people moving to Berlin than from it—but because my brain yelled: “William Playfair”! And sure enough, this is the quite well-known vintage infographic that I had in mind. With Numbers’ on-board tools, I then quickly tried to match the visual style of the chart with the one by William Playfair. Here’s a PDF. What do you think?

IN GRAPHICS Volume 2

IN GRAPHICS is a magazine published by Golden Section Graphics twice per year as a bilingual edition in English and German. The first issue won 10 national and international design prizes, including a Bronze award from the ADC Germany and a Gold European Design Award in the magazine category. A third issue is currently planned for December 15, 2011.

Not your typical magazine, IN GRAPHICS dispenses completely with the text features and photography that define its peers and consists solely of infographics. Yet the compelling visuals—from hand-drawn to vector graphics—are not only geared toward creatives. The 92-page second issue features a selection of general interest articles including an extensive cover story on the terrorist attacks from September 11, 2001 as their tenth anniversary nears and a look at recent events in Fukushima. A highlight is undoubtedly the two double-page spreads on the building of the Berlin Wall, whose fiftieth anniversary will be commemorated this August. The uniquely detailed 3D graphics document four generations of its construction in their entirety and took almost 2 years to complete.

Contributions by illustrator Patrick They, artist Konstantin Voit, and designer and author David McCandless as well as select business, science and technology, sports, and culture stories round out the informative, entertaining, and attractive editorial offerings. Even the advertisements are done as infographics.

Pre-order your copy via Amazon.de if you’re in the EU or via direct order from the online shop of Golden Section Graphics. Read much more information about IN GRAPHICS on its official website. The Magazine is also available at newsstands throughout Germany, Switzerland, and Austria as well as several additional EU countries starting July 8, 2011.

»IN GRAPHICS« — A magazine for visual people. Published by Golden Section Graphics.

On 92 pages it deals with challenging topics from politics and economics to culture and entertainment—solely through graphics.

Jan Schwochow, the chief editor and publisher of »IN GRAPHICS«, manager of Golden Section Graphics and former head of the STERN infographics department, had the idea for a magazine that consist only of graphics. A magazine for visual people came into existence without long texts and large picture galleries. It is based on the experience of the team at Golden Section Graphics, who get worldwide attention with their produced work for renowned media like Die ZEIT, the New York Times Magazine or GEO on a regular basis.

Infographics require not only journalistic intuition but also a lot of time and patience. The editors of »IN GRAPHICS« deliberately take that time to create interesting and fascinating content and show a lot of love for details. Also, current topics like Hartz IV (the German unemployment benefits), piracy off the coast of Somalia, German large scale projects like Stuttgart 21 or the overfishing of tuna in the Mediterranean Sea are shown in a new perspective. Furthermore, this first edition of the magazine includes artworks by outstanding artists Christoph Niemann and Jonathan Meese as guest contributors. »IN GRAPHICS« is released bilingually, in German and in English.

It is free from advertisement and printed very eco-friendly. This is what makes the first issue even more valuable and the reason why it costs a bit more than a usual magazine.

You can purchase it on Amazon.de, in the shop of Golden Section Graphics or in local stores listed on the magazine’s website.

a look into »IN GRAPHICS« from InGraphics Magazine on Vimeo.

The video »Journalism in the Age of Data« by Geoff McGhee is a report on data visualization as a storytelling medium. Please, take 54 minutes of your time and watch it. The player on the website of Standfort University lists related information and link while you watch the video.

At Golden Section Graphics, we posted a small video on our fibonacciLAB website which demonstrates how we experiment with developing iOS apps. Have fun watching it!

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) published an infographic in their customer magazine, which was made by Golden Section Graphics. For this, I programmed two small applications: one converted a world map into a differently projected one (Fuller Projection). The other one generated te surrounding triangles for any countries of the world and the included bar charts. The represented values are specific indexes for the nation’s sustainability.

First, the whole thing is a poster. But one should really cut the world map out and glue the edges together, because you get a very nice paper globe! Read more on the fibonacciLAB website.

This interactive infographic delivers answers to questions such as: What is my blood alcohol concentration when I have drunk a beer? Can I still drive after having two cocktails? What fines would I have to pay if I get caught driving drunk (german version)? How does the alcohol influence my mood and my body (english version)?

This infographic won bronze in the category online at the Malofiej18 infographics award. Read more about it on the website of the spanish chapter of the Society for Newsdesign (SNDE).

Two and a half months after I started working for Golden Section Graphics in Berlin, we opened the doors to our fibonacciLAB. Here, we experiment with new technologies to design new ways of visualizing data. Read more about our intentions on our website!

On December 30, 2009, the German daily economy newspaper »Handelsblatt« published five unusual looking infographics made by Jan Schwochow (head of Golden Section Graphics) and me. Since it was the end of the year, the graphics were about numbers of last year’s/decade’s finances and some outlooks on this year/decade. Also, the title page featured a mashup of those single graphics.

The people at »Handelsblatt« had quite some chutzpah letting us go nuts with the mostly quite small data sets and the disproportionately generous space!

Read more about it on Golden Section Graphics Blog (in German).

Comparing numerical values by illustrating them as shapes, especially circles, needs to be done with the area in mind, not only a one-dimensional value that defines this shape. A circle is drawn with a radius, so another circle depicting a multiple of the value the first one is representing may not only have this multiple radius. It should have the corresponding area.

Another more extreme example showing how a circle with 25 times the radius can’t be a symbol for 25 times the size: