Infopornographics

November 22, 2008 8:58 PM

Everything is prettier as a flow chart.

See, for instance:

The blogosphere, the relative permanency of visible and invisible worlds, your bike, U.S. interstates, the Maginot Line, moon cycles, Cubism, Enron, the financial crisis, the Apollo landing site, Lisa's cold, fertility, and Ninja Turtles.

There appears to be no rhyme or reason, other than a stringent belief in order and luck with google hits. From the thread author:

I find these by compulsively searching google images. A search might be one of these words (Weather, Perfect, Beautiful, Temperature, Flow, Process, Affordability) plus one of these words (Graphic, Graph, Infographic, Diagram, Chart, Plot, Map), then I just flip through the pages looking for any that are beautiful in either content or aesthetics.

Enjoy!

posted by puckish (30 comments total)

Hey, I like Margaret Cho!.



Although she does kinda suck now.
posted by lunasol at 9:27 PM on November 22, 2008

yay!horray! (that was a great read)
posted by krautland at 9:35 PM on November 22, 2008

That was way more enjoyable than I can make sense of.

Also, rather surprised you didn't specifically post The Geek Hierarchy.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 9:53 PM on November 22, 2008

I see diagrams but not flowcharts.

Whoa. I cannot believe that I am actually writing this comment.

Hello everybody. I am pronoiac & I am a freaking ginormous nerd.
posted by Pronoiac at 9:56 PM on November 22, 2008 [4 favorites]

Very cool. A treasure trove of ideas to steal!
posted by stargell at 10:19 PM on November 22, 2008

Wow, that thread really is the best of the web. Thanks for posting it.
posted by vorfeed at 10:28 PM on November 22, 2008

Did I miss Minard's drawing of Napoleon's 1812 campaign somewhere?
posted by snarfodox at 10:42 PM on November 22, 2008

I think you can derive the origins of the diagram in the first link to this, a history of London Tube Maps. Scroll to 1933 - Yay for Harry Beck!
posted by b33j at 10:59 PM on November 22, 2008

For quicker link to Harry Beck's work.
posted by b33j at 11:00 PM on November 22, 2008

Could someone explain the moon phase one?
posted by phrontist at 11:16 PM on November 22, 2008

Strange Maps has long been a favorite of mine. The map of area codes in which Ludacris claims to have hoes is especially informative.
posted by esome at 11:38 PM on November 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Incidentally, today's Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal webcomic is about flowcharts as well.
posted by amuseDetachment at 12:15 AM on November 23, 2008

b33j, along those lines: Transit Maps of the World by Mark Ovenden. Lots of different maps and a bit about each transit system, not too much information on any one system's history of maps. Plenty of eyecandy.

And, uh, pronoiac, I might have had exactly the same reaction. Maybe.
posted by hattifattener at 2:11 AM on November 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Also, wow, the USGS aquifer diagram from the first link is gorgeous.
posted by hattifattener at 2:24 AM on November 23, 2008

Lisa's cold looks to be pretty intense. But apparently not intense enough that she couldn't sit down and flowchart it all out.
posted by stvspl at 2:51 AM on November 23, 2008

The Minard link is awesome! Especially the bottom, where he maps temperature...

Oh, it's a bit cold, it's a bit cold!

perfect balance, perfect magic cube, present perfect progressive, perfect competition, perfect square, and Perfect Song (not a diagram, but man oh man!)
posted by puckish at 3:07 AM on November 23, 2008

The bike one is not a flow chart. It's illegible, too, but that's another story
posted by fixedgear at 6:18 AM on November 23, 2008

forgot the "infopr0n" tag.
posted by signal at 6:27 AM on November 23, 2008

Good lord, this one has "delusional corporate ego" splooged all over it. And I'm man enough to admit I've made many such graphics for employers.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:04 AM on November 23, 2008

Pan flute flowchart.
posted by A dead Quaker at 8:08 AM on November 23, 2008

I end up drawing (on whiteboards, usually) diagrams that approximate Entity Relationship Diagrams -- basically concepts linked by relationships. The Flickr User Model diagram in the OP's first link is maybe the best example I've ever seen. Beautifully proportioned, meaningful layout, great color coding, concise relationship labels -- it's fantastic. Really something to shoot for. Thanks for this post.
posted by sdodd at 10:19 AM on November 23, 2008

One of my favorites: Prince Flowchart.
posted by numinous at 12:04 PM on November 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

i agree with pronoiac, most of those are diagrams, not flowcharts.

this is the best flowchart EVAH. cracks me up everytime i read it :D
posted by liza at 6:32 PM on November 23, 2008

Anyone know why there is no Interstate 30? The lack of it really stands out in the chart.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 10:36 PM on November 23, 2008

Visual complexity.
posted by Kabanos at 7:06 AM on November 24, 2008

Mr. Gunn: I30 is on the map between DFW and Little Rock.
posted by tayknight at 8:37 AM on November 24, 2008

Re: Interstate map - "I probably got as many complaints about the map's inaccuracies as I got print orders!"
posted by Pronoiac at 9:23 AM on November 24, 2008

And everything is hideous as a Gantt chart.
posted by dasheekeejones at 10:42 AM on November 25, 2008

An xkcd Guide to Understanding Flow Charts, Presented in Flow Chart Form.</a?
posted by Pronoiac at 3:53 PM on December 18, 2008

An xkcd Guide to Understanding Flow Charts, Presented in Flow Chart Form.
posted by Pronoiac at 4:02 PM on December 18, 2008