Vism.ag & Creative Maps Blog

Edinburgh Creative Map

Edinburgh is the latest creative map to be rendered, vism.ag/edinburgh. Mapped in collaboration with creative-edinburgh.com launching Thursday 3rd November, 6 - 8pm at The Cube, 47 Leith Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3AT.

Identified as one of the 9 creative 'hotspots' in the UK by Nesta, this location has some great places on offer. From Edinburgh printmakers studio, Analogue Books, The Fruitmarket Gallery @fruitmarket to round the corner Stills photography gallery, there appears to be a lot of bustling creativity that the platform of creative-edinburgh.com @CreativeEdin will be sure to promote and keep you abreast of its output both nationally and internationally.

Creative Maps share knowledge of creative facilities in the world, or more specifically Edinburgh's area to help you in your creative and innovative endeavors.

Be it Galleries, Museums, Theaters, Bookshops, Arts Centers, Magazines, Studios, Design Companies, Craft Shops

Nearby on Thursday 3rd November, go check it out 6 - 8pm at The Cube, 47 Leith Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3AT

Check out the interactive map to see all the locations on Edinburgh's Creative Map vism.ag/edinburgh

Know any places in Edinburgh that aren't mapped? Sign up and add your own through vism.ag/sharegems

More info: @CreativeEdin

Published on 2011/10/28 11:37 pm.
Filed under: cartography, clean, constellations, creative, Creative Maps, cube, design, geography, information, innovative, interactive, knowledge, landmarks, landscapes, learn, map, mapping, media Tags: 3at, Analogue, Arts and Entertainment, Collaboration, Craft Shops, Creative Maps, Creativity, Cube, Edinburgh, Edinburgh City of, Edinburgh Map, Edinburgh Printmakers, Endeavors, Fringe (TV series), Fruitmarket Gallery, Hotspots, Interactive Map, Leith, Leith Street, Magazines, Map Edinburgh, Museums, Nbsp, Nesta, Photography Gallery, Scotland, Share Knowledge, Theaters

Working Drawings

This is a brilliant exhibition featuring some great visual thinkers Ken Garland, Ed Fella, Abram Games, Alan Fletcher, Saul Steinberg, Neasdon Control Centre to name but a few.

'I have discovered that it is impossible to see anything anything until you have made a deliberate attempt to draw it' milton glaser

There are endless readings despite the geographic size of the space to exhibit the sketchbooks and drawings. The real gem here is the designers/artists talking about why they draw and how it informs their practice. it really examines the transfer of thought to page to work.

'As a graphic designer who mostly works with text-based commissions, it is rare that I "draw" within my working practice context, though I do often map my thinking process visually ' catherine dixon

This is an excellent exhibition with great visuals but equally, if not better dialogue of analysis between the viewer and the artist/designer. Cant wait for the conference!

Working Drawings’ Exhibtion and Conference

Sheffield Hallam University

Conference: Friday 3rd December 2010 (11am to 4.30pm) SNOW disruption. 20 January 2011 now! Where: Hallam Union, The Hubs, 6 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2UU

Exhibition: 4th – 23rd December 2010 Where: 153 Arundel Street, Sheffield S1 2NU

The exhibition includes drawings by Jill Calder, Roderick Mills, Ken Garland, Ed Fella, Abram Games, Alan Fletcher, Saul Steinberg, Jason Ford, Lee Ford, Frazer Hudson, Lydia Monks and Simon Spillsbury.

You can down load the two PDF flyers here: Working Drawings Conference Flyer Working Drawings exhibition Flyer

Online Registration and Information: www.shu.ac.uk/ad/workingdrawings/

Bookings for the conference are charged per attendee at £10 for non Hallam staff or practitioners and £5 for students. You will receive an email shortly after registration to arrange payment

Further information can be found at here: www.shu.ac.uk/faculties/aces/art/gallery/

Published on 2010/12/13 9:49 pm.
Filed under: abstract, abstraction, design, doodle, drawing

Handmade Visualisation Contest

Have your work on the Cover (front wrapping round to the back) of the next issue Visualisation Magazine Volume 4 Handmade.

vism.ag/handmadecontest

This is the group to share your submissions for the contest to feature your work on the cover, a double page spread and a blog post on GOOD Magazine blog & vism.ag/blog.

Your work will be judged by Density Design, Visualisation Magazine & GOOD Magazine

I want to emphasize handmade techniques like, etching, screen printing, metal press, lino, mono printing, drawn, paper folding. the only digital element would be the capturing of the work for the front cover to send us, or taking printed elements and manipulating them by hand... to an extent.

Visualise any subject you like (try not to be too offensive, would like all ages to appreciate) and to consider the:

Complexity
Innovation
Culture

TO BE JUDGED
by Density Design, Visualisation Magazine & GOOD Magazine
End date: aiming for end of December.
Judging: Beginning of January
More details: http://visualisationmagazine.com/volume4_handmade.htm

Published on 2010/10/30 5:15 pm.
Filed under: abstract, cover, creative, data, design

Creative Economy Map

Manchesters creative network has been mapped with terrains for both geographically and digitally by Laura Mansfield. I think every city should adopt it accross the world. Not enough creative ecologies being devised for area's.

It has a lovely clean simplicity to it that lets you focus in on the colours / numbers for the key and even though it is large you can fold away and pocket it. Great for a creative tourist. Might be limited with its geographic landmarks to contextualises where abouts these places are but with the again organised simple, alphabetised, postcodes, addresses and websites on the back to type into your gps enabled phone it recovers in its accessibility and functional level.

'Contemporary Cartography //01 is the first in a series of unique pocket maps detailing the plethora of contemporary arts activity occurring within Manchester and Salford. Listing established organisations next to independent initiatives the pocket map gives an overview of what makes up, and contributes to, the creative ecology of Greater Manchester. It is a gesture towards documenting the abundance of activity occurring throughout the city and we are well aware that we may have missed off some people, places and events as the creative community continues to grow. If you are not listed on the map and would like to be, please visit MMDC website and get in touch'

from: http://www.theartguide.co.uk/profiles/?profile=337

http://www.mmdc.org.uk/

I wonder if the cartographer Laura Mansfield did the data mining of places her self or if she had help compiling. But it is lovely with the dots, wavy lines, +++ plus marks for texture really soft with the odd geographic location in type. here is her description,

'I recently developed a pocket map of Manchester's creative economy with MA students on the Design Lab course at Manchester Metropolitan University. The intention of the map is to present the range of contemporary arts activity occurring within Manchester and the spaces and facilities that support new work - listing established organisations next to independent initiatives to give an overview of what makes up, and contributes to, the creative economy of the city. A preview of the map was distributed as part of the Manchester Weekender, a city wide event on 1st, 2nd and 3rd of October.'

http://lauramansfield.co.uk/page5.htm

the key to the map and more details are here:

http://grou.ps/vsualthinkmap/photos/item/contemporary-cartography-by-laura-mansfield

She has done some more beautiful maps, I saw the one in corridor 8 paper featured at her site in collaboration witha few people notably Dust (who did a beautiful fanzine collaboration for pete mckee at A Month of Sundays gallery in sheffield) and her cycling map looks pretty good and may get blogged here too when chance.

Published on 2010/10/13 9:45 pm.
Filed under: abstract, cartography, clean, creative, design, geographic, links, map

Shape My Language

Love this! Every student, designer, person has to have the ability to immerse themselves in type physically rather than just mentally. .

. I feel sorry for the characters at the top of these 26 strings with over 4,000 floating letters. Please, please say you can buy this as blinds in your window. Would be very much frowned upon by my partner but she can lump it, how cool! Bring it to the UK, fonts definitely Shape our western Langauge, but this would shape our experience of it. . . www.daltonmaag.com . 05.03. – 12.06.2010 Thankyou Bruno . http://www.walking-chair.com/ . found in creative review april 2010, btw... I dont like the 3d, sans serif, drop caps. But the grey is good, the Caslon revamp and the general overall redesign, 1 thumb up ;o).

Published on 2010/03/30 11:29 pm.
Filed under: design, engagement, font, interactive, landscapes, language, type, typographic Tags: Caslon, font, Graphics, Home and Garden, immersive, Individual Designers, Sans Serif, Shopping, Windows

How do visualisations enhance the communication of data?

Finished my essay into how graphic design can enhance communication in data visualisation & information graphics: visualisationmagazine.com/dissertation.htm "graphic design ‘sorts and differentiates, it informs, it helps to shape how we feel, see the world’" (Newark, 2002, p. 6) I look into areas such as (please note these intermix with each other): a. Mind and Vision b. Communication c. Perception and Reality d. Semiotics e. Graphics Within this paper I explore the creative and innovative design techniques for mapping information to aid thinking, understanding, comprehension and reasoning. I summarized the key points into guidelines for the at-a-glance findings. "it may be possible to utilise symmetry and geometry to aid vision when perceiving a visualisation to understand data" (Wood and Keller, 1996, p 256)

This consideration of the way the map designer represents the world is not just associated with that of geographic cartograms but also with the way the designer visualises complex data. "if the designer retained 100% truth, they would no longer be mapping, representing aspects of geographic space, it would be entirely realisitic, the territory"

Read more: visualisationmagazine.com/dissertation.htm.

Please discuss, comment, criticize, debate, enjoy! Guidelines for when designing visualisations | Opinion? Discuss, share here in Forum | See Dissertation Proposal

I am pleased as this means I have passed my MA Contemporary Arts Practice at York St John University investigating data visualisation, graphic design, information mapping. Read more background about me. Dont worry, I will still be blogging, collating and compiling the magazines. See more projects developed from my studies: visualisation magazine.com

visualisationmagazine.com/blogvisualthinkmap

visualthinkmap.ning.com

Published on 2009/11/02 11:29 pm.
Filed under: abstract, cartography, clean, communication, complex, creative, data, design, designs, diagram, graphic, information, Uncategorized, visual thinking, visualisation, white space

30 Free Useful Websites for Online Promotion

This visualisation was made to help inform and advertise on how easily and effectively you can use the web 2.0 tools to build an online presence through free sites, feeds, embed and monitor progress/stats.

There are more that I have started to use and need to integrate at some point (they were just embeddable widgets).

feedburner.com google’s feed aggregator, splice in Del.ici.ous links or amazon and ping your blog posts to different services postrank.com blogpost ranking widget, show readers your popular posts technorati.com blogpost organiser/aggregator pinging and rating among your categories of blogs. facebook.com share & connect hostpapa.com (not free, but cheap and can host many sites) I share a friends web hosting uk2.net (not free, but cheap and easy to integrate with hostpapa) bought an yearly domain .com £8.99 linkedin.com professional networking, set up your own groups vi.sualize.us (update: vi.sualiZe.us - not with an s) visual social bookmarking toolbar delicious.com social bookmarking toolbar blogger.com google’s blogging platform flickr.com share photos/artwork with groups and friends visualisationmagazine.com my website for my data visualisation magazine free to see online (using issuu, search it in my blog posts) chriswatsondesign.viviti.com my homepage of activities, viviti lets you build a basic website to promote if you dont have your own host or dont want to learn html etc.

issuu.com

share books with an online viewer either public or private (still embeddable, private is little more awkward to implement, see

http://visualthinkmap.blogspot.com/2009/10/self-publishing-visualisation.html) twitterfeed.com share feeds auto on twitter, your blog, your del.ici.ous, vi.sualise.us, flickr (anywhere with a feed) twitter.com microblogging 150 word updates getsatisfaction.com free online customer services, embeddable widgets and brandable with your own header etc. ning.com create a social network and add pictures, website links, blog posts, videos, linked to flickr, you tube.... very good. add html data. createspace.com free online publishing tools, books, cds, video affiliate-program.amazon.com earn money through product placement

sharethis.com share posts/links anywhere, such s twitter all those services, whatever you use, tumblur, stumble upon its listed.

addthis.com share posts/links anywhere as like share this.

addtoany.com share posts/links anywhere as like share this. geekchart.com show where you share, more novelty but interesting nonetheless for visitors wanting to know where to follow you best.

feedjit.com

show where your traffic comes from in the world.

clustrmaps.com show where your traffic comes from in the world. sitemeter.com site visitor stats goingup.com (not signed up yet, but looks good) earn money through stats popuri.us site rank stats, where are you on google page rank, alexa, yahoo back links etc. e-zeeinternet.com free embeddable counter, no subscribing/details needed. just your url of where its going.

this was a great post, many that i need to have a look at and probably use,

desizntech.info/2009/10/22-really-useful-online-tools-for-web-designers-and-bloggers/ If you know of any more really useful and excellent sites/services that are free on the web please let me know. ADDITION: http://www.ubervu.com/ widget free to track stats of where your site - link goes accross the web

Design

It was quite a challenge, I wanted to avoid the amount of edge crossings with the lines. This isn't that easy as you can imagine to avoid the amount of edge crossings, if there are too many like in the diagram below it can reduce the readability mentioned upon by Lau & Vande Moere.pdf, pg 1 (infosthetics.com) and referred too as Good Continuity in the Gestalt Laws of Perception for effective visual communication in Cartographic Design: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives, from John Wiley & Sons Inc.

So I had to re-arrange the different sites quite a few times as it is quite easy to make them all integrate, such as rss/atom feeds directly being fed to different sites, or being able to embed items into blogger, websites etc. As you would expect from today's web 2.0, you want them all spidering each other and linked and easily integratable with each other it generates a lot of lines (not that easy to distinguish which sites can link, embed with each other). I thought about using colour to differentiate between embed links and rss links.

I think there are 13 edge crossings (making it look like spaghetti and hard to follow, causing conflicts and burdening cognitive load and reducing readability and ease of engagement as you interact with it, inevitably giving up with it, 'oh **** that!'). That 13 is a high number, trust me it could have been worse, but i try to get round that by giving a perception of depth and differentiating line quality so that they arent the same and the eye can still maintain good continuation, as Gestalt say, for the reader and the designs readbalility (think there is a test that scores the readability of text, see Hrant Paparazin 'Improving the tool' in Graphic Design and Reading: exploring an un-easy relationship by gunnar swansson.

I help when they come to going along the differentiated dashed line from Visualisation Magazine or Flickr that I added a depth too by also adding rigid straight lines contrasting the flowing curved solid lines (lots of contrasts to differentiate).

I also straightened the lines making them parallel such as to the left hand side of Blogger (orange b), Or underneath Blogger connecting to Ning. Helps with the Common Fate (Gestalt) and again easier to follow the individual lines. Simliar to TeleGeography with their parallel lines springing from countries.

Below are links to Picassa. Please observe image copyrights to their owners. Use these to have ago your self at creating a web 2.0

Published on 2009/10/26 4:02 pm.
Filed under: design, free, generator, how to, html, information, online, tool, web 2.0, websites

22 Visualisation Styles

Data visualisation is a no doubt popular and growing field with many innovative solutions arising every day, there are a few places that try to help structure and define this field for some clarity and hopefully more creative decisions.

Decisions such as the usually struggling question of what style/type of visualisation form should I use?

I saw Info Many Eyes had useful thumbnails and defintions of the types of visualisations it offers, and Joel Laumans made a fantastic booklet on the subeject that had many types that weren't included. Therefore I wanted to unify their defintions and style types in a table. Bit of a challenge deciding how they should line up together as some are the same and others not or are categorised differently. I think it was Correlations with Joel's grouping that I had to split to fit with Many Eyes.

Oops! Sorry iframe attribute is not supported, I use iframe because Ning struggles to display HTML how I like it to look.

If you cant see this table, it may be because it is viewed in an rss, click here to see the table

Also useful on the topic of data visualisation and infovis Manuel Lima has produced a provocative manifesto to aid in this effort to help bring some structure to our complicated and diverse visual forms.

analysed here: http://bbh-labs.com/do-not-glorify-aesthetics-a-manifesto-for-data-visualisation

“Information Visualisation Manifesto”, 'a provocative (but characteristically generous and nuanced) take on the future of data visualisation which tackles head on the thorny questions at the heart of this ever-expanding field:

Art versus Science
Intrigue versus Immediacy
Aesthetics versus apprehension. '

http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/blog/?p=644

Watch and listen to him here: http://visualthinkmap.ning.com/video/manuel-lima-visual-complexity

He also was complimented on his writing by Stephen few (author. Information Dashboard Design plus other books) in an intersting article that got me stirred into a comment as well as Ben at http://www.datavisualization.ch/.

http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/?p=613

If you know of more styles not featured or would like to elaborate the defintions, styles, or you know of someone elses lists and categories that I could append please feel free to comment. I hope this helps a beginner or even more experienced data visualiser, infographic maker decide the best format to enhance and communicate their data sets.

Again many thanks for the thumbnails Joel.