BESEECHED AND BEQUEATHED BY A BUZZ BOMB

So the idea of this particular blog entry is to show my progression from initial comps to final project and all the bumps in between. Though it seems as it may not have changed that much there were many alterations I had to make even up until the very last revision. It went from two hands to five, the color changed and the form changed drastically (note it was an assignment and the requirement was to have a color and B&W version, the B&W is not shown from its original comps but just the final two steps). So here is my progress for your viewing pleasure...








Strangely I usually like my initial comps best, this is not an exception.

SAVE A SLOTH SLED A SANDSTORM

So most the time I blog about found images that I like either the content or appearance of. Today i'm gonna switch things up. I am blogging about a class assignment in which we were to take an existing bad map and try our best to make it good.
Here is the original:Here is my revision:
OK so I know mine isn't perfect and people may think I had it easy since the original was so atrocious but truth is that made it even harder. I had to try and decipher the information through layers of bad color and confusing info. It was akin to translating and I had to really examine it to get all the buried info. The color was the hardest part since it had to convey meaning while staying clear. In the end this was the one that printed best, however it is not the easiest to read on screen. This was quite the learning experience for me and I figured out how to use tools in Adobe Illustrator that i had never used before. I ended up re-drawing the whole thing and working on it as multiple different maps for the different sets of information and then combining them and working on it more.
So that's that, consider yourself lucky. It's a Jane original.

I'VE ALWAYS DREAMED OF BECOMING A ROCKET SCIENTIST

So sticking with the theme of lunar exploration and space related stuff I decided to blog about more images I found on NASA's page. I would like to state for the record that I am absolutely in love with NASA at the moment. So many neat looking pictures as well as graphs and charts by the boat load. So here is a selection of images that use "small multiples" (a technique just talked about in a book I am reading for class) to show pre and post Hurricane Gustav Louisiana. I found them both interesting and informative and in general just pretty to look at. No more inane commentary on my part, I will leave you to view 'em.

IT'S CONFUSING THESE DAYS, BUT MOONDUST WILL COVER YOU

I think it is safe to say that basically everything out there has been blogged about before. That being said whenever I do a google image search to find maps or graphs to blog about for my blog I end up with a link to somebody's blog. Here is one such find...
This image is of the moon's dark side, the colors correlate to geological materials and phenomena and is part of a series produced by United States Geological Survey in partnership with NASA between 1971 and 1998. I got it from a blog on the WIRED SCIENCE blog network, here is the link:
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/11/the-most-beauti.html
Though I'm sure an untrained eye cannot decipher meanings and from a design standpoint people will harp on about there not being any labeling I just thought it was a cool image and an example of accidental design.
Ok and since I'm cool like that, here is another image:This is from NASA's site, it is an image of satellites and debris in the earth's orbit. Here is the description given; "The debris objects shown in the images are an artist's impression based on actual density data. However, the debris objects are shown at an exaggerated size to make them visible at the scale shown."

GOODNESS GRACIOUS, GREAT BALLS OF FIRE!

I must admit information graphics relating to pirates are my absolute favorite. I simply adore pirate information graphics. That being said here is another one to muse over. Though I am not at all certain whether this contains actual information or if it is a farce and a sham, the content made me giggle nonetheless. I mean what important information to communicate and I assume one would be able to reach a completely new and different demographic with that information and thus help fight global warming.
On the flip side my critical mind would like to say whoever is designing all these pirate statistics is not representing the information in the best possible way. This graph needs to have the axis rearranged or the numbers need to start with the low number on the left and get larger as they proceed right. Because at first glance this definitely looks as the pirate population is increasing with the temperature, which is not the case. Though I'm sure pirates like the tropical climates just as much as anybody it probably cuts down on their pillaging so instead of leading a piratey life they become just another beach bum soaking up the rays. A revision is in order.

IT GOT ME TO GIGGLE WHICH IS MORE THAN I CAN SAY ABOUT YOU

OK this is another map I found on the site I mentioned in my previous blog. If you want more info on this particular one look at the October 5th 2008 posting at http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/page/2/
Pretty nifty stuff, especially for anybody who is a bit of a type nerd.

LOOK UP IN THE SKY...IT'S A BIRD...IT'S A PLANE

In the process of doing research for one of my classes this quarter I stumbled across a blog that I consider to be pretty nifty. Here it is http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2009/02/ and I suggest not only taking a gander at that page but going back through all his archives. Not only are the maps humorous but he is also a fairly good writer and provides background info on them or provides the original context in which they were found. Also if you are in this class with me it has lots of different maps both good and bad to provide inspiration.
Here are a few I picked out...

AHOY-A CLARIFICATION

So it turns out that fabby, hard to read pirate attack map had an earlier edition, the one I posted previously was just the update. The older version had more info. Even with the additional info it still isn't crystal clear but it did clear some things up, such as what the yellow and red flags/balloons stand for.
Here it is...