Comments on: Infopornographics

Infopornographics

puckish — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:58:56 -0800

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!

By: lunasol

lunasol — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:27:38 -0800

Hey, I like Margaret Cho!. Although she does kinda suck now.

By: krautland

krautland — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:35:31 -0800

yay!horray! (that was a great read)

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:53:24 -0800

That was way more enjoyable than I can make sense of. Also, rather surprised you didn't specifically post The Geek Hierarchy.

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:56:20 -0800

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.

By: stargell

stargell — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:19:07 -0800

Very cool. A treasure trove of ideas to steal!

By: vorfeed

vorfeed — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:28:12 -0800

Wow, that thread really is the best of the web. Thanks for posting it.

By: snarfodox

snarfodox — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:42:23 -0800

Did I miss Minard's drawing of Napoleon's 1812 campaign somewhere?

By: b33j

b33j — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:59:30 -0800

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!

By: b33j

b33j — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 23:00:41 -0800

For quicker link to Harry Beck's work.

By: phrontist

phrontist — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 23:16:34 -0800

Could someone explain the moon phase one?

By: esome

esome — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 23:38:07 -0800

Strange Maps has long been a favorite of mine. The map of area codes in which Ludacris claims to have hoes is especially informative.

By: amuseDetachment

amuseDetachment — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:15:38 -0800

Incidentally, today's Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal webcomic is about flowcharts as well.

By: hattifattener

hattifattener — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:11:26 -0800

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.

By: hattifattener

hattifattener — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:24:23 -0800

Also, wow, the USGS aquifer diagram from the first link is gorgeous.

By: stvspl

stvspl — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:51:30 -0800

Lisa's cold looks to be pretty intense. But apparently not intense enough that she couldn't sit down and flowchart it all out.

By: puckish

puckish — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:07:53 -0800

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!)

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 06:18:55 -0800

The bike one is not a flow chart. It's illegible, too, but that's another story

By: signal

signal — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 06:27:13 -0800

forgot the "infopr0n" tag.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 07:04:40 -0800

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.

By: A dead Quaker

A dead Quaker — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 08:08:57 -0800

Pan flute flowchart.

By: sdodd

sdodd — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 10:19:42 -0800

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.

By: numinous

numinous — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:04:20 -0800

One of my favorites: Prince Flowchart.

By: liza

liza — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:32:26 -0800

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

By: Mr. Gunn

Mr. Gunn — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:36:47 -0800

Anyone know why there is no Interstate 30? The lack of it really stands out in the chart.

By: Kabanos

Kabanos — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:06:34 -0800

Visual complexity.

By: tayknight

tayknight — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:37:58 -0800

Mr. Gunn: I30 is on the map between DFW and Little Rock.

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:23:49 -0800

Re: Interstate map - "I probably got as many complaints about the map's inaccuracies as I got print orders!"

By: dasheekeejones

dasheekeejones — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:42:00 -0800

And everything is hideous as a Gantt chart.

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:53:49 -0800

An xkcd Guide to Understanding Flow Charts, Presented in Flow Chart Form.</a?

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:02:42 -0800

An xkcd Guide to Understanding Flow Charts, Presented in Flow Chart Form.