»We know from the start that we are creatures of compassion and feeling, but also animals of analysis and measurement. … More
Category: Design
Interactive: Reading Traces (Urban Complexity Lab)
Visualisation is a powerful tool for exploring large sets of digital heritage. Methods of data visualisation can be used to interact…
Interactive: Leonardo’s Codex Atlanticus (The Visual Agency)
Visualisation is a powerful tool for exploring large sets of digital heritage. Methods of data visualisation can be used to interact…
Input: What is a Dashboard?
I have great admiration for research projects that set out to investigate seemingly obvious things, and then suddenly a whole ocean of questions … More
Book Review: W.E.B. Du Bois’s Data Portraits (Princeton Arch. Press)
The Library of Congress holds a collection of hand-drawn infographics about the life and progress of the African-American population. The … More
Summary I: Malofiej 27 summit (Pamplona)
Malofiej is one of the most interesting gatherings in the world of infographics (and some data visualization). Here is a brief … More
Summary II: Malofiej 27 summit (Pamplona)
This is part two of my brief summary of the Malofiej #27 conference (March 27th to March 29th, 2019) in … More
Input: Visualising Personality
There are only very few visualisation techniques that feed into our perception system so well that they actually do facilitate seeing something “at a glance.” Small multiples is certainly one of the methods which has a potential for that. Small multiples can provide…
History: “The Stream of Time” (1804)
Timelines seem like such a „natural idea“ these days that we don’t even notice their ubiquity anymore: Facebook timeline, news feeds, graphic interfaces for back-up versions – how did anyone manage their life before there were things like this? Timelines are a universal concept…
History: “The Tree of Virtuous Behavior” (1608)
I stumbled upon this severe beauty of a tree diagram in the Beinecke digital collections and was immediately thrilled about this hidden gem from 1608. Then I never came around to really studying it — until just now…
History: “The Geological Time Spiral” (1975)
The Earth is roughly four and a half billion years old. During most of that time—i.e. over the course of some four billion years—the geological and biological development on our planet happened unbelievably slow. How can we possibly form even a faint idea of this unimaginable process that is the history of the Earth?
Review: “Otto Neurath & Fritz Kahn 1920-1945” (Leipzig)
The interwar period in Europe was marked by a whirlwind of contradicting social influences and political turmoil. Revolutionary and socialist … More
Book Review: “Dear Data” (Penguin)
To craft something requires skills, mastery and patience. It means to create something step by step, with a passion for … More
Article: “Nervous Systems” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
If you need brain food, some irritation and some art for inspiration – the House of World Cultures in Berlin … More
Article: “The Feltron Annual Reports” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Nicholas Felton‘s work has been an inspiration to many people in the field of information visualisation, not only when he … More
Article: “Ephemeral City” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Urban cartography has long been an authoritative matter: companies or authorities invested time, energy and money in researching the data … More
Jury Member: “Information is Beautiful Awards” (London)
I felt honoured to be part of the jury of this year’s “Kantar Information Is Beautiful Awards”. The awards’ winners … More
Teaching: “Diagrams, Maps, Trees” (Potsdam)
This semester, I have the great pleasure to teach again within the interface design programme of the University of Applied … More
Book Review: “Map. Exploring the World” (Phaidon)
When I think about cartography, I am always fascinated by the different associations the term evokes in my brain: from … More
Talk: “Bigger! Smarter! Better?” (Köln)
The Rheinische Fachhochschule in Cologne, one of the oldest of its kind in Germany, invited me to talk as part of … More
Book: “Understanding the World – The Atlas of Infographics”
Yes, I am quite excited to announce the release of my second collaboration with TASCHEN publishing, “Understanding the World. The … More
Exhibition: “Micropia” (Amsterdam)
Together with Berlin-based ART+COM studios, we had the great opportunity to create several media installations for an exhibition which I thought had a genial concept: MICROPIA. Conceived as a permanent show within the zoo in Amsterdam, it presents knowledge about animals whom we share our lives with but never see – microbes.
Interview Jer Thorp: “Let the data speak”
For a few years now, Canadian-born Jer Thorp has been working on the forefront of data visualisation, creating ever new … More
Interview Moritz Stefaner: “The city is alive”
Moritz Stefaner came to the field of data visualisation with a background in cognitive science and interface design. His works … More
Inspiration: “The Art of Memory” at Victoria & Albert Museum
I am very much into all things related to structuring information & visual storytelling. So it is exciting to hear … More
Book Review: Generative Logos
Even though tools like “Processing” have been out there for a while, computational design is still a rather new strand … More
Inspiration: Interactive Network Graph from MoMA
The Museum of Modern Art in New York City is a fascinating brand name in the museum world. Since it … More
Inspiration: Google Chrome Experiment “OZ”
In their quest to explore opportunities arising from the latest web technologies, Google has released a new experiment for their … More
Book: “Information Graphics” (Taschen)
I can hardly exaggerate my excitement on the release of my first book earlier this week: INFORMATION GRAPHICS, published by … More
