Ballou on Visual Communications

I’ll never see a car engine the same way. A beautiful and informative animation by Exxon.

This 1942 infographic showed readers how long it would take for a Nazi bomber to reach their city. I’m mostly shocked by how small our population was.

Hi-res pdf here

This animation on marijuana legalization is pretty effective:

And here is an edited version of the classic anti-drug animation : Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue

Full version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jivU-4xv7aw

Your Ph.D. visualized. http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures

(With Adrienne wanting to become an academic – I couldn’t resist)

I’ve long been interested in efforts to make the case for capitalism. A free-marketeer myself, I wrote my Master’s thesis on an ad campaign from the 1950s that sought to persuade people of the virtues of American-style capitalism. I was thrilled to learn that in the wake of the recent financial crisis, the US Chamber of Commerce had decided to launch a similar campaign.

Compare the two videos below.

(1954)

The 1950s version is filled with interesting allegories: “foundation of our system”, “threatening waves”, “train-loads of taxes”, “tax dollar vacuum cleaner”. Also, while the cartoon style is light-hearted, it’s actually a pretty stern warning.

(2010)

On the other hand, the 2010 version looks like a mutual fund commercial. It is also entirely positive, with only one mention of the need for “Responsible Economic Policies”.

1950s Print ads (Download PDF here)

2010 Banner near White House

2010 Print ad

It’s tempting to make generalizations about the attitudes of people within a particular country or province. Visuals can help make things clearer. This map of my home province of Quebec shows how the 1995 sovereignty referendum results vary greatly by region. Of course, it doesn’t tell the whole story – other factors such as ethnicity, mother tongue, and rural-urban living play a role. However, this particular map contains enough – but not too much – information to be interesting without being overwhelming.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Quebecref.PNG

This poetic clip explains what makes designers tick. I’m a bit torn about this popular style of animation, where the moving text is the basis of the movie. However, this clip made me smile, since it seizes the personae of the sensitive designer-type–right down to the narrator’s voice. I identify with the the part about how

“design halts you in your sleep, and forcefully steals valuable nutrients from your body. Your energy becomes lines, becomes shapes, becomes textures, becomes colors “

While reading Fearful Symmetry by Brian Lee Crowley, head of the Macdonald Laurier Institute, I came across a paragraph about Quebec and the extent to which it subsidizes its businesses. I began thinking about how to represent the information visually. I ended up spending hours figuring out what to include and how to present it.

1. Should I exclude subsidies to Quebec’s daycare care program, as suggested by my friend Vincent Geloso?
2. Should compare subsidies to GDP, or some other measure, such as the number of private sector employees in each province?
3. Should I include more provinces, which would make the graphic more complete, or fewer, which would make the information easier to interpret?
4. Even though I like the circles used by infographics guru David McCandless, they weren’t clear to people I showed it to. Should I use bars? Or pie charts?

The end result was surprisingly spare:

With circles:

I had to chance to visit Canada’s biggest defence and security trade show. I was interested by how companies in this field used visuals. (Disclosure: some of the companies below are H&K clients).

The “soldier in action” visual is popular.

A minimalistic approach.

Lots of 3D animations. The soldier is getting ready to fire his rocket launcher.

Looking at the big picture, rather than showcasing the product.

Lots of “connectivity” imagery.

An appeal to the heart.

The design itself recalls a protective carapace.

Show, don’t tell! (Blast-proof panels)

Clever.

I used to assemble miniatures as a boy.

Recalls a page out a magazine from the 1950s.

If Apple was a defence company.

Lots of “stencil” fonts.

You can tell it’s a European company just from the layout!

Self-help for the sensitive. Right-leaning economics. Two aesthetics. Two different markets. I love the contrast.