What is Wolfram|Alpha?

I'm not sure I understand what Wolfram|Alpha is yet, but so far it's pretty impressive.  Developed by Stephen Wolfram and his team, it claims to be a "computational knowledge engine".  The input box looks like a search engine, but it is definitely NOT a search engine.

When you type in a question, it attempts to show you all of the relevant data it can find.  It is actually calculating and charting this information real-time in order to present it to you.  Because its built on top of the Mathematica Engine, it can also handle math problems.

I think this will be an important tool for many designers of infographics, because you can get some of your raw data directly from Wolfram|Alpha.  As they add more data into the system over time, this will become one of your best resources for information.  They have a pretty extensive page of examples by category that is a great place to start.  Also watch the short video by Stephen Wolfram showing what the system can do.

Microsoft's Vision 2019

Apparently by 2019, we will all live in an infographic world, and that's good news for us.  Microsoft had the first public showing of the video at the Wharton Business Technology Conference.  Some found Microsoft's video inspiring, and some were not impressed.

I love some of the ideas shown in the video, but much of it also felt like the magic of Hollywood.  Because this blog is focused on infographics, I understand how much thought and effort from the designer goes into making just one infographic image useful and easy to understand.

Dramatic Shift in Marketing Reality

Scholz & Friends: "Dramatic shift in marketing reality from Michael Reissinger on Vimeo.

Great little video from Michael Reissinger on the need for innovation and consumer interactions in today's marketing world.

Found through Twitter: @stonepayton

The Art of Visual Thinking

Last week, Guy Kawasaki posted a good interview with Dan Roam on his blog.

Do you recognize this picture? It's how Southwest Airlines was pitched.

To provide more insight into the process of visual thinking, I tapped Dan Roam. He is the author of The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures . In this interview he explains why and how to use visual thinking in your business. Click here to read it. To learn even more about visual thinking, be sure to read his book.

Visualizing the Design Process: Michael DiTullo

Over on Think>Map>Draw, Michael DiTullo, the Design Director for Converse, shared his thoughts about design and sketched this parallel design process between the intended design process and the actual design process.

Sketch image: 2008 copyrighted Michael DiTullo and released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

iPhone 3G under the hood

Will all of the hype around the launch of the iPhone 3G, I wanted to share a simple infographic showing the circuitboard from inside one of the new phones.  It clearly identifies each major component and also adds what that compnent does inside the phone.  The graphic really adds a significant amount of depth to the article.

The full article is from TechOnline.

Approach to Creating Experiences

Found on Think>Draw>Make, the Approach to Creating Experiences is from David Armano from the very influential Logic + Emotion.

It’s a high-level attempt to document an approach to designing an interactive experience within an agency setting.

Fostering Innovation at Pixar

Only a little bit off-topic. This is a great interview with Brad Bird from Pixar on how they build an environment for innovation. The lessons apply to movies, product development, design and of course designing infographics. Lesson Six is my personal favorite!

Found on Daringfireball.net