May 17, 2012
We’re Hiring! UX Designer, Full-time
We are currently looking for a UX Designer to join us in doing good with data. Qualified people will have 2+ years experience with strategic thinking.
This position will be responsible for conceptual design of data visualization projects and infographics. If you like the artistic side of data, this is a dream job.
Ideal candidates will be resourceful, creative, detailed, and have a desire to work in a small business setting. We are a boutique design firm, not a large agency. Fascination with data, logic, and statistics is much more important than volume of experience.
Candidates must have experience in requirements gathering, whiteboard .... read on ›
April 17, 2012
We’re Hiring! Visual Designer, Full-time
We’re looking for a Visual Designer to join our amazing team. Qualified people have 2-6 years web experience specifically with interface design and web-related projects. Must be very well organized, well spoken, and able to quickly follow creative direction.
This position will be responsible for creating original interface and data presentation designs, applying design styles and ideas to un-designed sections of existing projects, and creating infographics. Will work directly with our Head of Visual Design to refine ideas and create new layouts.
Ideal candidates will be extremely creative, patient, observant, and have a desire to work in a small business .... read on ›
March 27, 2012
Our Recent HTML5 Data Visualizations: Specifically Designed for the iPad
Over the past year we’ve had the good fortune to work on a number of substantial HTML5 sites, developed specifically to be viewed on the iPad.
Though we had some initial trepidation about how we might have to compromise the richness of detail that we had come to expect using Flash as a development platform, the sacrifices of switching to HTML5 were hardly as significant as we’d feared.
In some ways, it actually helped us refine our development methodology, and definitely broadened our understanding of what is possible when deploying to multiple target platforms.
Visualizing Yahoo!
March 21, 2012
Our Research into Flash and HTML5: Ten Months Later, a Second Look
Support for HTML5 has come a long way in the past year, and these days it’s difficult to tell it apart from Flash. It’s changing the way people think about online content, but is it right for your project?
Last year we explored the audience reach of HTML5 vs. Flash when used for developing a large-scale data visualization project. Our research also explored the impact that the iPad was having on these development platforms, and if you haven’t seen that discussion, you can find it here.
Since it’s been about 10 months since that research, we’ve decided to revisit .... read on ›
March 6, 2012
My Reflections on Being a Juror for the 18th Communication Arts Interactive Annual
When I received the invite to be on the jury for the 18th Communication Arts Interactive Annual I was so flattered that I immediately and enthusiastically accepted.
We’ve had a subscription for many years and eagerly await the annuals, especially when we’ve have the good fortune to be included. The magazine and companion web site are well worth your investment, and definitely an essential for all who are interested in communication of all forms.
Once the judging started, the sobering reality kicked in as we all spent weeks reviewing and dissecting every website – big or small – that .... read on ›
March 2, 2012
Kim Rees Discussing What Inspires Her at O’Reilly’s Strata Conference
For those of you who haven’t been to an O’Reilly Strata conference yet, we encourage you to go. O’Reilly is doing a fantastic job of elevating the discussion about data and providing an environment for people to discuss, debate and learn.
Here’s the way they describe the conference:
Unprecedented computing power and connectivity are bringing new layers of experience to our lives: a change that brings both opportunity and the chal- lenge of new technologies and skills. The future belongs to those who understand how to collect and use their data successfully. Strata Conference offers the nuts-and-bolts of building .... read on ›
Working with UNICEF to Visualize the State of the World’s Children
We recently partnered with UNICEF to help support the launch of their flagship yearly assessment, The State of the World’s Children. The 2012 report focuses on the inequalities children face in towns and cities around the world, and is a gripping assessment of the effect of urbanization on youth.
The report is extensive (156 pages) and contains excellent data on several topics, including population growth, children’s rights, migration, environmental and physical impacts, poverty, and education, among others. There are over one billion children living in urban poverty.
To help visualize some of this information, we used their global population data to map the growth .... read on ›
February 9, 2012
FlowingData.com: Visualizing popularity of Yahoo homepage stories
We’re excited to say that our latest visualization is also being featured on FlowingData.com. Take a look:
Yahoo is not what it used to be, but many parts of it are still alive and well. In a follow-up to their email interactive, Yahoo, along with visualization firm Periscopic, explores the popularity of articles that appear on the Yahoo homepage. It’s a visualization that shows activity within the Content Optimization and Relevance Engine (C.O.R.E. for short).
The focus is on the center, which has the same layout as that of the stories on the Yahoo homepage. Story on top, and .... read on ›
Visualizing the Demographic Reach of Yahoo! Homepage Stories
Our latest data visualization is featured on Infosthetics.com. Here’s an excerpt:
Yahoo! recently released a dedicated data visualization website [yahoo.com] to highlight their Content Optimization and Relevance Engine (C.O.R.E.), a service that aims to personalize the Yahoo! experience depending on a collection of demographic (e.g. gender and age) and geographic (e.g. cities) variables, in combination with personal interests (e.g. Finance, Sports, Health).
The visualization, developed by Periscopic, allows to explore the relevant content of their homepage according to a set of user-selected parameters, so that one can solve questions like: “What is the most popular story for females between 18 and .... read on ›
Featured on Mashable.com: Our Latest Data Visualization for Yahoo!
Our latest data visualization is featured on Mashable.com. Here’s an excerpt:
Yahoo has launched a new webpage that visualizes what’s happening on the web in near real time — and it’s totally beautiful.
The Content Optimization Relevance Engine (C.O.R.E.) HTML5 site hopes to show users the “behind the scenes” process Yahoo uses to match readers with content on their personalized homepage, using technology developed in a Yahoo research lab a few years ago. While Yahoo’s homepage used to be arranged by editors, it now uses an algorithm to match individual user preferences.
“We can provide users with insights through the .... read on ›
