Anyways, the reason there hasn’t been an update in so long is because I’m in the process of moving down to London. Actually I’m in London at the moment, without a computer and without the internet, which is why I’m in an internet cafe at the moment with 9 minutes remaining on my time trying to write this update pretty damn fast.

Hopefully I’ll have a new laptop by the end of next week, and will crank out some more stuff soon.

New job!

Also, I’ve accepted a new job at a company in London dealing with search technology, news, and data visualisation, and I’m just waiting to sign the contracts. Hopefully the paperwork will be done sometime this week, or early next, and I can let you know who that lucky bunch are!

The good thing about this is that in alot of respects, DesigningTheNews will become my day job. Bonus! Which means in areas where the work isn’t subject to NDA, I can share some of the things I’m working on right here. With you. Before anyone else. :)

Stay tuned! And thanks to everyone who’s emailed me wanting posters. At this rate if interest keeps up I may have to do another run!

Still in the apple store on Regent street. Single solitary tear just hit the keyboard. Not sure if that’s because I got a first, or because I will forever remember that I used a Mac to find it out. Thank-you Apple store.

Anyone else think the logo looks like pieces of Meccano and a couple of flat head screws?

Just a quick note to say that I’ve just set up a prints page for the One week of the Guardian data visualisation posters. They’ll be a very limited print run so if you’re interested in getting your hands on one, the series, or more then you’ll have to be quick!

Only available until MIDNIGHT GMT tonight!

I’ll be taking orders via email until midnight on June 15th. They’re £12 each, printed on thick semi-gloss paper, and are all signed and numbered on the reverse so you know which one you bought!

Remember kids, having the series is like owning Pokémon. Gotta catch ‘em all.

UPDATE: 12:30 25/June All posters were delivered to the post office this morning, and should be on their way to you shortly!

UPDATE: 10:30 24/June I’m sick as a dog at the moment. I have all the prints, all packaged and ready to ship. I managed to get a couple out yesterday, but the rest will be going out no later than tomorrow morning.

Sorry they’ll be a day or two late. This ‘not man-flu’ has knocked me off my feet.

The info poster below is a larger view of what was included in the supplement prototype packaging that I posted yesterday.

For each piece printed, the preview image of the storyboard (this one being the Thursday visualisation) would be the preview to what’s printed on the opposite side of the page, thereby allowing the poster to be hung either side for a more informative view, or a more visual view.

Well one idea I had was a supplement piece, with accompanying package containing a fullsize A1 print every week for six weeks. This way the One week of the Guardian project is contained in it’s own package, with accompanying information which tells the story of the project, and a poster of a piece of work to encourage people to collect the whole series.

Inside the envelope, the A1 print would be folded down to A5 size, 4 folds in half each time. Printed on the back of the visualisation for that day would be a storyboard with project information, the same for each day so that if a reader jumped on board half way through the issues, they would still know what’s going on.

A rough scale of things would look something like this.

I was thinking it might be nice to have these supplemental packages published next year on the dates they were created, as a time capture looking back one year ago using data visualisations. A hypothetical fantasy, but a nice one I think.

The texture of the paper is not unlike newsprint, though there’s a larger grain to the paper, and it feels just slightly thicker. It’s difficult to see I know, but my digi-cam is a cheap useless one that’s about 4 years old, and photography isn’t my forte.

To see it up close it looks as though it came straight out of the paper, which is great, and after handling it my hands were inky black! Not sure I’ll be able to mass print these though as printing it on the plotter has to be done overnight. Perhaps a limited edition of 10 if people want? I know some have already contacted me via email about getting prints, and if demand is strong enough then I guess archival ink on semi-gloss might be a better choice.

The idea would be that a simple application would pull headlines from the BBC News website, or any website, and seperate the headline into individual words. It would then check a database to see if there is a pictogram associated with that word and display it. This would loop for all words until the headline is complete. If there is no pictogram for the word available, then it will just display the word and update an online list that symbols for word ‘X’ are needed.

Here’s a couple of examples mocked up with stock photos to see what I’m talking about.

Pictogram Headlines
A quick concept idea for using headlines displayed as a series of pictograms. This proposal could be installed in a number of public spaces, train stations, bus depots, airports, etc. on large screen visual displays. The headlines in pictograms would cross multiple language barriers, and carry the English alternative underneath. When people are used to seeing them then they will eventually be able to quickly see the news just by using the pictures.

Anyone have any thoughts? I know I’d find it more interesting when at a train/bus station to have rotating headlines.

I have a presentation in a couple of days about this project. I’m trying to put together some sort of list of frequently asked questions in order to give a better presentation of the work. I know what my aim was, and I can understand the choices I’ve made being as I’m the one that made them, but is there anything about this project that you don’t understand or would like further clarification about?

This is your chance to get stuck in and really tell me what you think. If you need your memory jogging work can be found via the designlab.

What don’t you understand?

Thanks.

I think I’m a pretty concise person. When I write anything I usually try to get to the point pretty quickly, and don’t like to spin anything out too long unless it’s funny or there’s a payoff at the end. I have to say, there’s only so much ‘padding’ you can add to a description of what I’m doing and why. Most of the descriptions I write about my work are those that I’ve taken the time to explain in 100 words or less, thereby being concise and to the point.

I’m not going to say ‘bullshitting’, but ‘padding’ a report, is hard work. Nobody wants to read anything unnecesary in a report document, but 6000 words minimum is 6000 words minimum.