The World as 100 People Over the Last Two Centuries is a good summary from Our World in Data, a website dedicated to capturing the story of human progress in the form of data visualizations, of their much longer article about the history of global living conditions and why it matters that we know it. For our history to be a source of encouragement we have to know our history. The story that we tell ourselves about our history and our time matters. Because our hopes and efforts for building a better future are inextricably linked to our perception of the past it is important to understand and communicate the…

Time & Space Visualiser by Paul Smith from Wonderful Books is the first exploration of both the factual and fictional history of Doctor Who through a range of infographics, presenting information about the show. As the famous TV series nears its 50th anniversary, this book takes a fresh perspective, visualising information from every aspect of the programme to show there are lots of options beyond lists and tables. Each chart is accompanied by detailed notes discussing the background and context of the areas under examination, how the data was compiled and what it reveals. The results can therefore be appreciated by those interested in the possibilities of data visualisation while…

The internet grants us access to lots of images. But how do we know if we have legal or ethical use of the photo? Check out the Can I Use this Picture? flowchart from Curtis Newbold, The Visual Communication Guy before you make your next powerpoint slideshow. Need to use an image but not sure if you have the legal and ethical right to do so? Understanding the laws for using images can be a bit tricky, especially because there is wiggle room within the laws. And, with the mass distribution of images on the internet, it’s no wonder we’re all asking the the same question over and over again:…