#this post is created as a solution for assignment for IT & Business Applications Lab, Spring Semester, VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur Class of 2014.
Data Visualization and Info graphics
Data visualization is the study of the visual representation of data, meaning "information that has been abstracted in some schematic form, including attributes or variables for the units of information".
According to Friedman (2008) the "main goal of data visualization is to communicate information clearly and effectively through graphical means.
It doesn't mean that data visualization needs to look boring to be functional or extremely sophisticated to look beautiful. To convey ideas effectively, both aesthetic form and functionality need to go hand in hand, providing insights into a rather sparse and complex data set by communicating its key-aspects in a more intuitive way. Yet designers often fail to achieve a balance between form and function, creating gorgeous data visualizations which fail to serve their main purpose — to communicate information"
There are several benefits of using infographics as stated by these infographics below:
Tool Analysis : Visual.ly: (http://visual.ly/)
About:
Visual.ly is a community platform for data visualization and infographics. It was founded by Stew Langille, Lee Sherman, Tal Siach, and Adam Breckler in 2011.
Visual.ly is structured as both as a showcase for infographics as well as a marketplace and community for publishers, designers, and researchers. The site allows users to search images through description, tags, and sources in a variety of categories, ranging from Education to Business or Politics.Users can publish infographics to their personal profile, which they can subsequently share through their social networks.
Visual.ly maintains a team of data analysts, journalists, and designers that create infographics and data visualizations using the Visual.ly tools. They are currently developing a tool that allows anyone to create and publish their own data visualizations.Through this tool, users will be able to gather information from databases and APIs in an automated service to produce an infographic. Visual.ly’s first tool, the Twitter Visualizer tool allows users to input the Twitter handles of two people, and then generates an infographic comparing the hobbies, number of followers and occupation of the two accounts.
Visually is a one-stop shop for the creation of data visualizations and infographics, bringing together Marketing Gurus, Data Nerds and Design Junkies based on shared interests. Visually Marketplace introduces ecommerce and project management into the Visually platform, making it easier than ever for buyers and sellers of infographics to get them made, distributed, liked, commented on, and shared.
By tapping into Visually's vibrant community of more than 35,000 designers, Marketplace is able to match infographic commissioners – brands, companies, agencies – with designers, Once matched, commissioners have direct access to the designers working on their projects and can communicate and transact with them in Visually's Project Center. Through such unique features as the Project Timeline, commissioners always know where their project stands and can ensure that it stays on time and on budget.
Visually partners with the world's leading publications and brands, bringing tools, community, and talented team to bear data visualization needs, wherever bespoke creation is needed.
Visual.ly is a great tool for businesses as well as individual, Visual.ly can be used to create visual resumes, Google analytics reports, venn diagrams, Facebook and twitter tools, brand management tools etc. I used visual.ly in a few ways the infographics of which I am posting here.
This is how I used visually to create insights for Vinculum-Annual VGSoM day's Facebook page and my personal Facebook profile as well:
Isn't it an amazing tool and when you thought its just about fun, behold. I created my brief visual resume by connecting it to my LinkedIn account in a matter of seconds. See how it looks.
There are several other options for creating resumes and many themes are given in the tool. The biggest asset of Visual.ly is probably the market place where you can use it by paying the fees to create your own brand identity and brand image. This means that it will solve all the advertising related needs of a brand which takes up substantial amount of time for any organization.
Since the resulting resume was not up to my expectations I also tried few other sites for the same, and found that their are may other portals which expertise in creating your visual resume in a matter of minutes. A few such portals which I actually tried were:
http://www.zeebly.com/ (for analysis of your facebook data)
http://re.vu/ (creating a visual resume, can upload from linkedin and also add your own data)
http://www.visualcv.com/ (for creating a visual CV, however this portal had poor infographic selection)
Here, is a really interesting infographic about Colour Psychology in Logo Design, this infographic can immensely help marketing & advertisers to think these dynamics while designing the logos for their brand. The brand message should translate in the colour of the logo.
http://switchedonmedia.com.au/blog/could-your-business-benefit-from-an-infographic/
http://www.wikipedia.com
http://visual.ly/
Here are few links where details about popular data visualization tools can be found out:
http://www.netmagazine.com/features/top-20-data-visualisation-tools
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9214755/Chart_and_image_gallery_30_free_tools_for_data_visualization_and_analysis
http://www.creativebloq.com/design-tools/data-visualisation-712402
http://www.teachthought.com/technology/5-free-data-visualization-tools-you-can-use-in-the-classroo/
http://itlyderis.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/22-free-tools-for-data-visualization-and-analysis-pcworld/
Data Visualization and Info graphics
Data visualization is the study of the visual representation of data, meaning "information that has been abstracted in some schematic form, including attributes or variables for the units of information".
According to Friedman (2008) the "main goal of data visualization is to communicate information clearly and effectively through graphical means.
It doesn't mean that data visualization needs to look boring to be functional or extremely sophisticated to look beautiful. To convey ideas effectively, both aesthetic form and functionality need to go hand in hand, providing insights into a rather sparse and complex data set by communicating its key-aspects in a more intuitive way. Yet designers often fail to achieve a balance between form and function, creating gorgeous data visualizations which fail to serve their main purpose — to communicate information"
There are several benefits of using infographics as stated by these infographics below:
Tool Analysis : Visual.ly: (http://visual.ly/)
About:
Visual.ly is a community platform for data visualization and infographics. It was founded by Stew Langille, Lee Sherman, Tal Siach, and Adam Breckler in 2011.
Visual.ly is structured as both as a showcase for infographics as well as a marketplace and community for publishers, designers, and researchers. The site allows users to search images through description, tags, and sources in a variety of categories, ranging from Education to Business or Politics.Users can publish infographics to their personal profile, which they can subsequently share through their social networks.
Visual.ly maintains a team of data analysts, journalists, and designers that create infographics and data visualizations using the Visual.ly tools. They are currently developing a tool that allows anyone to create and publish their own data visualizations.Through this tool, users will be able to gather information from databases and APIs in an automated service to produce an infographic. Visual.ly’s first tool, the Twitter Visualizer tool allows users to input the Twitter handles of two people, and then generates an infographic comparing the hobbies, number of followers and occupation of the two accounts.
Visually is a one-stop shop for the creation of data visualizations and infographics, bringing together Marketing Gurus, Data Nerds and Design Junkies based on shared interests. Visually Marketplace introduces ecommerce and project management into the Visually platform, making it easier than ever for buyers and sellers of infographics to get them made, distributed, liked, commented on, and shared.
By tapping into Visually's vibrant community of more than 35,000 designers, Marketplace is able to match infographic commissioners – brands, companies, agencies – with designers, Once matched, commissioners have direct access to the designers working on their projects and can communicate and transact with them in Visually's Project Center. Through such unique features as the Project Timeline, commissioners always know where their project stands and can ensure that it stays on time and on budget.
Visually partners with the world's leading publications and brands, bringing tools, community, and talented team to bear data visualization needs, wherever bespoke creation is needed.
Visual.ly is a great tool for businesses as well as individual, Visual.ly can be used to create visual resumes, Google analytics reports, venn diagrams, Facebook and twitter tools, brand management tools etc. I used visual.ly in a few ways the infographics of which I am posting here.
This is how I used visually to create insights for Vinculum-Annual VGSoM day's Facebook page and my personal Facebook profile as well:
There are several other options for creating resumes and many themes are given in the tool. The biggest asset of Visual.ly is probably the market place where you can use it by paying the fees to create your own brand identity and brand image. This means that it will solve all the advertising related needs of a brand which takes up substantial amount of time for any organization.
Since the resulting resume was not up to my expectations I also tried few other sites for the same, and found that their are may other portals which expertise in creating your visual resume in a matter of minutes. A few such portals which I actually tried were:
http://www.zeebly.com/ (for analysis of your facebook data)
http://re.vu/ (creating a visual resume, can upload from linkedin and also add your own data)
http://www.visualcv.com/ (for creating a visual CV, however this portal had poor infographic selection)
Here, is a really interesting infographic about Colour Psychology in Logo Design, this infographic can immensely help marketing & advertisers to think these dynamics while designing the logos for their brand. The brand message should translate in the colour of the logo.
To, conclude the post I would say that infographics are tools that would drive the business in the future, the business would stop thinking of infographics just as an aesthetics measure and would want to translate their work from voluminous and boring reports to more easy to grasp infographics.
It is to provide the reader with a better sense of visualization by employing his/her more senses than usual. I would not be surprised to in the coming years, to see the annual reports of the company as a series of pictorial infographics which not only causes the target audience to actually read them but will also save them the wrath of being added into another pile of trash.
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32255/Why-Marketers-Should-Invest-in-Visual-Content-Creation.aspxhttp://switchedonmedia.com.au/blog/could-your-business-benefit-from-an-infographic/
http://www.wikipedia.com
http://visual.ly/
Here are few links where details about popular data visualization tools can be found out:
http://www.netmagazine.com/features/top-20-data-visualisation-tools
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9214755/Chart_and_image_gallery_30_free_tools_for_data_visualization_and_analysis
http://www.creativebloq.com/design-tools/data-visualisation-712402
http://www.teachthought.com/technology/5-free-data-visualization-tools-you-can-use-in-the-classroo/
http://itlyderis.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/22-free-tools-for-data-visualization-and-analysis-pcworld/
