The Infographic that Saved a Million Lives

Great story from 37signals.com about a very simple infographic that motivated Bill and Melinda Gates to change the focus of their charity spending.

“No graphic in human history has saved so many lives in Africa and Asia,” says NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof about an infographic in a ‘97 Times article that spurred Bill and Melinda Gates to take action on public health.

...But then bill confessed that actually it wasn’t the article itself that had grabbed him so much—it was the graphic. It was just a two column, inside graphic, very simple, listing third world health problems and how many people they kill. but he remembered it after all those years and said that it was the single thing that got him redirected toward public health.

In the Shadow of Foreclosures

Great graphic from NYTimes.com showing the subprime mortgage foreclosures as a percentage of all subprime mortgages by geographic region of the country.

Where Does the Money Go?

From the nytimes.com, this graphic visually represents how average consumer spending breaks down, and the color code shows how much spending in that category has changed in the last year. For example, Gasoline is 5.2% of an average consumer's spending, and it has risen 26% from 2007 to 2008.

As far as I can tell, this is actually a treemap, but in a new shape. More details pop-up when you mouse over each of the individual shapes.

Thanks to Tony, for sending in the link.

Classifying Experiences

Stephen Anderson is an "experience architect" at Sabre Travel Network, and has created a poster to communicate how people Sort, Classify, and Label Experiences. Read Stephen's blog post explaining his efforts.

Found on NiXLOG.

Nichloas Felton's 2007 Annual Report

Nicholas Felton has published his new 2007 Annual Report. I love the way he breaks down his own personal life into maps and charts. I had just posted about his 2006 Annual Report last month.

Harnessing the Wind

From the Telegraph in the UK, the idea is to use a kite to help pull a ship across the ocean. by using the wind power at high altitudes the ship would save on energy consumption.

Its inventor, Stephan Wrage, a 34-year-old German engineer, claims the kite will significantly reduce carbon emissions, cutting diesel consumption by up to 20 per cent and saving £800 a day in fuel costs.

Found on digg.com

The Price of Gasoline

This image was real popular on Digg.com this week. It's hosted on tinypic.com, but there's no author listed.

I love simple infographics like this that use a visual metaphor to instantly get the point across. You can tell someone that the price of gas is comparable with Coke, but putting gas in the Coke signature bottle will get more people to understand the message.

My own reaction was probably the opposite of what the author intended. My first thought is "Coke costs how much?!?" I know there is a lot more expense in producing gasoline than there is in producing Coke. They must really be marking the price up a lot for brown sugar-water.

There is a similar analogy in the U.S. regarding bottled water. Some bottled water brands are now more expensive than gasoline! How is that possible?!?

Lotteries Profit, but Do Students?

Interactive graphic, from the NYTimes:

Lotteries in 42 states and the District of Columbia rake in billions of dollars, but much of the cash from ticket sales gets channeled back into prizes and lottery administration. States earmark the profits for programs like education, but the lottery dollars contribute only a small percentage of the total education funding.

The Wealthiest Americans Ever

From the NYTimes in July 2007, an interactive infographic ranking the Wealthiest Americans after you convert their fortunes to today's dollars using the relative share of G.D.P.

Scrolling your pointer over the photos or the fortune amount shows more detail of the individual. Lots of black & white portraits! Only current rich folk Bill Gates and Warren Buffet made the list with color portraits.

Consumer Spending (5% on Tech Stuff)

From Wired magazine (issue 15.08) a treemap infographic of consumer spending in 2005. 5% of all consumer spending was on technology, and of course, Wired broke down that 5% into an expanded treemap.

Internet access +216%, Residential phone -25%. VOIP seems to be making an impact.