DrugCite – I don’t mean to scare you at all, but… did you know that 5.61% of Aspirin users reporting adverse events to the FDA reported gastro-intestinal hemorrhages after taking it? Did you know that 6.2% of Ritalin (the ADD medication) side effects reported were negative neurological side effects? Did you know that 5.16% of people who took Alka Selzer Plus Cold (a common cold medication) and reported side effects to the FDA needed Cardiac investigations for adverse side effects on their heart rate and blood pressure? No, I didn’t either…
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Need I say any more!? One Hour Per Second is an infographics lover’s dream, as it takes you on an entertaining, graphic trip through some really unbelievable statistics about the volume of videos uploaded to Youtube every second, minute, hour and day. Watch the preview below, and click here to see this. You’ll be missing out if you don’t!
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The traditional resume. One (or two) pieces of paper, a few buzz words, your education, work experience yada yada yada. Is it just me, or is this just boring in our internet age!?
Just as All My Faves aims to redefine how you discover the internet with a visual guide to the best of the web; Re.Vu aims to revolutionize the way we can help employers and clients discover us, with a beautiful visual guide, stuffed full with pictures, infographics and timelines. This is way more than just a CV. It’s a Re.Vu. And it’s free!
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Civil War 150 – It’s hard to believe, but America’s most influential war is a century and a half old. Thanks to the rapid flow of information online and the advancement of technology today, it’s possible to explore the American Civil War like never before. The History Channel offers an exciting interactive spot commemorating the Civil War, and invites you to discover unique relevant details. These include technologies and weapons used in battle, individuals of the time who made history, the five deadliest battles and much more.
The entire Civil War 150 interface is absolutely amazing, and it’s obvious a lot of time and thought have went into the design of this historical project. To give an example, see the beautiful infographic below of the weapons used during the Civil War. Clicking on each of the methods below will prompt another page with explanations and illustrations.
The History Channel’s Civil War 150 is a must for every American, young and old. Kudos, History Channel!
The following is a guest post I wrote on behalf of All My Faves for Synapses, an insightful blog by the lovely Dan Fonseca.
In recent years, as the World Wide Web became mankind’s main communication channel, there has been an interesting shift in the predominance of textual content. More specifically, textual content in mainstream media has been increasingly gravitating towards a more visualized direction. This is not to say textual content or words are a dying breed. Rather, the visual evolution of content -in the form of animated videos, interactive maps and infographics- is emerging primarily in circumstances where complicated knowledge or data need to be understood in a fast and clear manner.
Below I will present several examples of recent visual content forms on the Web, showing how graphic based information achieves immediate understanding and internalization of ideas and processes. These exclude common practical iconizations used for daily routine efficiencies (signs, conventional maps, etc).
1. Visualizing Bloodtests
This example is a knock-out in terms of both aesthetics and functionality. Created by the talented team over at Information is Beautiful, Visualizing Bloodtests is the ultimate data-into-info example, and there’s no wonder why this visualization scored the 1st place in Wired Mag’s re-envisioning medical data design competition.
The original piece of content is a standard bloodtest data document. Doctors can make out what it means, but what about the patient whose blood was tested? It’s virtually impossible to comprehend what’s going on there, and this concerns someones’ life!
Now see the magic of infographics (thanks to Information is Beautiful), turning the incomprehensible document above into an easy to digest content:
2. GapMinder World’s Health & Wealth of Nations Interactive Graph
This interactive graph was created by GapMinder so as to “unveil the beauty of statistical time series by converting boring numbers into enjoyable, animated and interactive graphics.” The Health & Wealth of Nations shows the changes in humanity’s lifespan and lifetime earnings over time, starting in 1800. It’s an amazing visualization that takes dry numbers of data and turns them into an engaging presentation that laypersons like you and me can understand easily. By the way, GapMinder’s software Trendalyzer is so amazing that Google acquired it in 2007.
Click the screen shot below to go to the interactive graph’s page and hit Play.
3. Web Search – AllMyFaves.com
What does the phrase ‘Web search’ make you think of? Probably Google, right? There’s no doubt the search giant is excellent at what it does, and its efficient search algorithms had enabled the company to enter an already inundated Web search market back in 2000 and take it by storm. However, at the end of the day Google’s search service, however sophisticated it may be, is based on word indexes. You must type in key words to find what you are looking for, and then you must read each result entry to identify its relevancy to your search. The byproduct of this process is what has come to be known as “search fatigue.” Another byproduct is spam and malware hot spots, disguised as credible search results.
AllMyFaves.com has identified the shortcomings of standard Web search and offers an innovative alternative: icon-based gateway to Web navigation and site discovery. The AllMyFaves.com homepage lists all the most popular and practical categories relevant to most users, and each category displays the top 10 websites of that field in the form of the site or company’s logo. Based on the same premise of the infogrpahic, allmyfaves.com delivers quick access to information and services provided by familiar sources and brands, immediately recognizable by their logos.
In addition to the homepage you will also find AllMyFaves’ designated pages for Blogs, Business, Education, Entertainment, Games, Kids, Shopping and Travel. AllMyFaves’ recent tool, the Mini Faves, is a personalization tool inviting users to create their very own visual homepage that includes all of their bookmarks and favorites. Here’s my personal Mini Faves page as an example.
If you would like to create your own Mini Faves page and have all your bookmarks and favorites in one easy page, join AllMyFaves now.
To wrap things up, I think you will agree; visual information is taking a strong hold over the Web and for a good reason. In an era when information flows to and fro at incredible speed, we are bombarded with RSS feeds, news articles, emails and many other content forms on a daily basis. Thanks to visual aids such as infographics, interactive graphs and many other forms of content with a visual approach, making sense of the world just got a whole lot easier.
*Recommended links and sources: Cool Infographics, AllMyFaves.com, Infographics Mini page,
“Conventional Data is Boring. Make Way for the Infographic,” AllMyFaves Blog. Jan 20, 2011.
VisualEconomics.com – Investments, loans, consumption expenditures and saving are financial terms we hear and read about everyday. But do we really understand what they mean? Excluding the professionals involved in the finance field, most laypersons often find it difficult to truly grasp the meaning behind published financial data, despite the increased accessibility we all have to related reports, numbers and information (thanks to the use of the Internet).
VisualEconomics is here to simplify our understanding of the financial market by offering down-to-earth content and explanations of some of the most complicated economic concepts and implications. Although VisualEconomics includes an abundance of break down information on various financial terms, it is their infographics section that truly makes them shine. Think of it as the cumbersome world of financial concepts, simplified. The infographic “How Much Americans Spend on Shopping” is but one example of the VisualEconomics magic. Enjoy and learn.