FREE Infographic Holiday Cards!

Once again this year, Funnel Inc. is offereing a free set of Holiday Infographic Cards to anyone who registers on their mailing list "while supplies last!"  You won't find the link on the main website, but here is the link for readers of Cool Infographics.

Also, there are four FREE Holiday desktop infographic images available on the same page at various resolutions.

Thanks to Lin at Funnel Inc. for keeping the link up for my readers!

Verizon 3G Infographic Commercial Causes Lawsuit

Verizon's new "There's a Map for That" television commercial uses these floating maps to compare their coverage area for the high-speed 3G network to AT&T's 3G coverage area.

From what I can tell, the maps are in fact accurate in representing the 3G network coverage; however, AT&T has now sued Verizon because the ad misleads customers to believe that AT&T doesn't have coverage in the blank areas.  AT&T does have coverage in most of the blank areas, but it's the slower 2.5G/EDGE network.

Even if the graphics are completely accurate, infographics can definitely be used to lead the viewer to an incorrect conclusion that the author wants to communicate.

Found on Infothetics.

Eye Tracking Infographic Plots

Eye tracking is used is a number of different fields of study; consumer interaction design, advertisements, product packaging, website/software usability, store shelf merchandising design and many more.  The results are plotted visually as an infographic, because it instantly makes the data understandable to the researchers.

In the fixation map image above, a participant's focal points on a website are tracked and the points are numbered in sequential order (like connect-the-dots).  The dots are also each sized based on "Gaze Duration", the amount of time the participant spent looking at that particular point.  In the example above, it took the participant 90 fixations to find the information they were looking for...not a good site design.

Of course, you can narrow down the fixation points and only see the first few points that attracted the participant's attention.  Answering the question "What does the user see first?"  In this example, the participant looking at the flight website saw the hotel ad first.

It's not just for websites.  When you use this method for product packaging, you can tell what the consumer sees in the store during the first few seconds, and the popular understanding is that you only have 3 seconds of the consumer's attention in the store.  The use of the infographic fixation map instantly conveys to the packaging designers what the consumer sees, and what parts of the design are ignored.

The fixation maps are converted into heat maps to aggregate many participant results together.  You can see here that participants aren't seeing the "Diesel for Successful Living" message.

Thanks to Colin from IDG Consulting for providing the images!  I have used IDG for consumer research projects in the past, and I highly recommend them.

50 Cars or 1 Bus? Infographic Advertising!

Great visual ad by Flygbussarna in Sweden!  Combining a physical construction of a bus made out of cars on the side of the road, a live webcam, and live infographic information on the website!

Every day thousands of cars are driven to and from Swedish airports. Every car holds only 1,2 persons on average which is to be compared with the Airport Coach that takes over 50. Needless to say, this makes no sense whatsoever from an environmental standpoint. To highlight this, an enormous bus was built out of 50 cars on the side of the highway to the airport. On the website, a live camera not only shows the installation 24/7 but also analyses the image and tracks each and every car going by. This data is then being used to highlight just how much emission we could save just by going by bus instead.

 Thanks to @yplim on Twitter!

Honda Ad: Keep Doing

Not sure if this Honda Ad is truly "infographics", but it's close.  It sounds like Garrison Keillor from "A Prairie Home Companion" doing the narration.

Thanks Paulo.

GE: Plug into the Smart Grid

Great interactive infographic website from GE for their Plug Into The Smart Grid ad campaign.  Beautiful graphics, fast, clean interface and all-around good job.  The viewer can change the setting, and see the infographic results change in response.

My son loves the Augmented Reality part!  Not really infographic, but fun.

Apple's 1 Billion Apps live countdown

Apple is using a live countdown timer for is 1 Billion App Countdown promotion.  It's almost real-time, and is a step better than when they did the 1 Billion Song Download a few years ago.

At the rate its going, they'll reach a billion before the end of the week!

Download an app and you’ll automatically get the chance to win a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro.

 Also, there a link to enter the contest without buying an App.  You can enter 25 times a day.

Free The Vote! (Spanish)

Infographic video from NSM in Santiago de Chile for the Free The Vote Campaign. I don't speak Spanish, so I'm not exactly sure what it says...

Thanks Marco, for broadening my horizons!

Sprint Infographic Commercial

"Welcome to the Now Network" new infographic commercial from Sprint.

Thanks Paulo!

Dramatic Shift in Marketing Reality

Scholz & Friends: "Dramatic shift in marketing reality from Michael Reissinger on Vimeo.

Great little video from Michael Reissinger on the need for innovation and consumer interactions in today's marketing world.

Found through Twitter: @stonepayton

FREE Infographic Holiday Cards!

While supplies last, Funnel, Inc. is offereing a free set of Holiday Infographic Cards to anyone who registers on their mailing list.  You won't find the link on their website, but the direct URL is http://www.funnelinc.com/holiday. Order yours quick!

Also, there are three FREE Holiday desktop infographic images available on the same page at various resolutions.

VizThink 2009

So VizThink Europe was this last weekend, and I came across this infographic ad in Fast Company magazine.  The next VizThink in the U.S. is coming up quickly.  February 22-25 in San Jose, CA.

Again, my friends at VizThink have created a discount code that I can offer to the readers of Cool Infographics!  Use the code BCRK01 to get $100 off of the standard registration price!

Special thanks to Ryan and the gang at VizThink!

$100 Off regular admission

DISCOUNT CODE: BCRK01

Sony Walkman advertising

This may cross the lines between infographics, advertising and art, but I really liked these advertising posters.  They're real subway maps of New York, London and Sydney, with a little artistic twist to add the ear buds.

 

 

I found these on Ad Goodness, and they were created by Saatchi & Saatchi.

Awesome Medical Visualizations

Really neat promotional video for Hybrid Medical Animation.  These guys do some amazing work.

When are you at risk online?

From the Mozilla website, and obviously a part of their sales pitch.  I picked up that the calendar arrangement of the squares is in fact correct for 2006.  Its getting the small things right that help make good infographics.

An independent study shows that, in 2006, IE users were vulnerable to online threats 78% of the time. Firefox users? Only 2%.



“At risk” defined as publicly available exploits with no patch. Source: “Internet Explorer users Unsafe for 284 Days in 2006” Brian Krebs, Washington Post, 1/4/2007

Greenwashing

From Futerra Communications:

Our Greenwash Guide (PDF) was born out of a desire to help communications professionals get their green messaging right. The majority of Greenwash is the result of over-eager communications campaigns that lack environmental rigour rather than malicious intent.

Found on Melodies In Marketing, thanks Mario!

Approach to Creating Experiences

Found on Think>Draw>Make, the Approach to Creating Experiences is from David Armano from the very influential Logic + Emotion.

It’s a high-level attempt to document an approach to designing an interactive experience within an agency setting.

Sprint AAA ad video infographic

Why not? One more infographic video Sprint ad for weekend. This features Sprint's relationship with AAA to help stranded motorists.

Sprint Katrina ad infographic video

Another Sprint ad using infographics showing how Sprint responded to Hurricane Katrina. From Superbad, the "brand-driven design and live action production company."

Sprint Ad infographic video

Great infographic video ad for Sprint Nextel by Superfad.

What to do when you are stranded in the woods with the eminent danger of a bear just around the corner? Just use your Sprint Nextel phone to call for help. Superfad brought this case study and others to life. Watch how real people use the Sprint Nextel Direct Connect system to get the job done right.

Found on See What You Mean, an infographic blog I just learned about. Thanks Richard!