As a data designer and cartoonist, I have been heavily influenced by Scott McCloud’s book on Understanding Comics. The cool thing about his book is that many of the concepts can be applied very directly to infographics, even those that don’t employ comic style illustration. This is especially true when dealing with time. Using a comic’s […]
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I still don’t know the source of the RCT Gold Standard Rhetoric, do you?
Today’s cartoon flashback comes from a post I put together early last year on the RCT Gold Standard Rhetoric. I tried, and failed, to find the source of the rhetoric, only a kooky theory about Harry Gold’s Standard (you’ll have to read the comments for that one). We did learn the source of randomista and came […]
Krista Donaldson on taking risk out of the design process.
Today’s inspiration comes from IDEO.org’s designkit. It’s one of 7 mindsets that lie at the core of their human-centered design process. You can also hear it spoken in context by Krista Donaldson in a short video on the designkit site. Here’s the quote: You’re taking risk out of the process by making something simple first. […]
What Ann K Emery really thinks about clustered bar charts.
Today’s illustration was inspired by Ann K Emery’s blog post on six alternatives to the clustered bar chart. We can all agree that 3-d exploding pie charts are pretty rotten. My vote for worst chart? The clustered bar chart. I see clustered bar charts everywhere. E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E. On pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of […]
ODI shares 10 things to know about evaluation, number 5 is on failures.
Today’s illustration was inspired by an infographic created by the Overseas Development Institute. 5. ‘Failures” are important. Evaluation is sometimes driven by desire to show that a project was successful or worthwhile. Yet evaluations will almost always show mixed results. Understanding and sharing what doesn’t work is just as important as what does.
How Thomas Archibald thinks we can create an intentional Evaluative Thinking learning environment.
Today’s illustration inspired by one part of Tom Archibald’s blog post on Fostering Evaluative Thinking. Create an intentional ET learning environment Display logic models or other theory of change diagrams in the workplace—in meeting rooms, within newsletters, etc. Create public spaces to record and display questions and assumptions. Post inspirational questions, such as, “How do we […]