VizThink Blog

Podcast #5: Information Graphics with Nigel Holmes

As the days speed toward the conference, now only 19 days away, I get more and more excited about the possibilities.  Today was no exception.  We had the privelege of spending time with Nigel Holmes on our next podcast.  Nigel was the graphics director at Time and has had work in many major magazines and newspapers such as Harper’s, Fortune, and the New York Times.

During our time, Nigel talks about how information is different from explanation and how his work might be better discribed as explanation graphics rather than information graphics.  We discuss how data quality impacts the visualization process, and how to deal with data that changes even while the graphic is in development.  Want to learn how data and graphics can be used effectively together?  Then this is the podcast for you.  Nigel shows almost 20 examples of work across a variety of clients as we explore these subjects and many more.

Probably what interests me most is Nigel’s discussion of his session at VizThink ‘08.  It arguably may be the most unique session ever done at a corporate conference.  His session is titled “Diagramming Fitness”.  As he explains in this video, session participants will not only learn how to do explanation graphics, but will do that by drawing exercises that were just performed.  It doesn’t get much more hands on than that!

Topic: Information (or Explanation) Graphics
Guest: Nigel Holmes
Length: 43:50

For more information on Nigel:
http://wiki.vizthink.com/nigelholmes

For more information on Nigel’s session at VizThink ‘08:
http://wiki.vizthink.com/08n522

For more information on registering for VizThink ‘08:
http://www.vizthink.com/registration.html