The Story In Numbers

UPDATE: SINCE ORIGINALLY POSTING THIS I HAVE DECIDED TO START POSTING ALL ADVERTISING/SCHOOL RELATED STUFF ON A SEPARATE BLOG. YOU CAN FIND THIS POST AND MUCH MORE HERE.

 

Between my research class, an account planning class, and trying to re-work past projects, I have been unable to escape numbers this semester. I have to admit, I have been pretty excited for finally feeling like I am enrolled in an legitimate academic institution. With all the numbers and data I have been finding, I have also been figuring out how to decipher what is important, relevant, and/or compelling and how to construct it into neat and tidy story that is inspiring to others.

I found this infographic on AirBnB's growth from their start up to January 2012. I love me a good infographic, when done right they make numbers easily digestible, like this...

 Mmmmmmmm, green monster smoothie, you make it so easy to 

consume three pounds of kale and broccoli

Unfortunately, infographics done wrong can be less like an easily digestible smoothie and more like this

 Nothing says love like chewing the food before you feed it to your toddler

The AirBnB infographic fell somewhere around here

Hope you don't have diverticulitis

It looked good and made all those numbers really easy to understand while telling a compelling story with them. They didn't do anything ground breaking with this infographic; it looks good, shares some data, and is formatted in the ridiculously long column format that seems as if it was meant to takeover Pinterest. The story of the company's growth was told in an interesting, and very clear to see way from start to finish and they even gave multiple types of graphics to re-iterate the point they were trying to make.

This is probably my favorite graphic out of the whole bunch because they didn't even give numbers (besides the date.) They had the numbers, they knew exactly how many listings there were/are and they could have just written them out but who ever digested those stats realized that showing a block by block graphic told a far more compelling story than just giving straight numbers. 

The above graphic is my least favorite in the story. This is an example of design hindering, rather than helping, the story. My issue with it is that they are trying to show how many offices they have and point out that they are all over the world, but with the map being oriented away from us and being rectangular as opposed to circular or oval, there is a lot of the southern hemisphere that is looking neglected and making their offices in 9 countries seem less impressive than it should, or could.

Overall, I really like this infographic because it has so many examples of ways to digest numbers while telling a story with them. I appreciate the individual graphics that are not as successful as some of the others because they demonstrate the importance of being able to edit yourself in order to tell a well crafted story.


Infographic found here
Smoothie found here
Alicia Silverstone found here
LaraBar found here

Tunes To Commute To

Back To School from vaya-vaya-vaya on 8tracks.

Here is a playlist of the tunes I have been listening to on my walk/BART ride to school. It is a little random but I hope you enjoy! Is there any music I should be listening to?

The Long Long Hike

ast March I registered for the Summer session, I was ambitious and I signed up for three normally difficult classes but as time creeped on and it neared time to actually take those classes I realized that those normally difficult classes were going to drain me mentally and physically because summer session means that all the hard work happens in half the time. I made the wise choice to drop a class and switch a class. And that is the long-ish story of how I ended up in a photography class.

So the reason I decided on taking a photography class is because 1) I wanted to practice taking pictures (that is also one of the reasons I started a blog) and 2) I knew that taking a class that forced me to get out of the house was the only way I was going to have a fun summer and not stay inside feeling consumed by homework. My first photo adventure took Patrick and me to Mt. Diablo State Park. It took us only about a 30 minute drive further into the East Bay and then 12 hours to conquer the mountain. At 18 miles this was the most difficult hike I have ever been on–mentally and physically, and despite climbing over 3,500 feet to reach the summit, it was coming down that was really the challenge. I had assumed that coming down would be difficult– down is difficult for me because I have bad knees and the the pressure of downhill hikes can get really intense but going down Mt. Diablo was super duper difficult because the trails we followed down were super gravelly and that meant super slippery. I fell down numerous times and got the bruises on my butt to prove it. I am pretty sure that at one stretch it took us nearly an hour to walk one mile (downhill!) Anyways, it was definitely worth all the hard work and I had a great time so if you are ever in the area I recommend you check it out. P.S. the pictures below are a few I showed to my photography class

Back to Summer School

am starting my summer semester today, so after a month of doing almost nothing I am about to begin the most stressful and busy seven weeks of my life and while I am nervous and excited about my classes, I thought I would put together a little compilation of things that would make going to class a little easier.

1. Botanical Notebook–I usually spend a good amount of time picking out a notebook for the semester, I want something that is good to look at and doesn't take up too much space in my bag. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I have a bunch of empty pages from my spring semester notebook so I will be using that this summer.

2. Snacks are an essential. My classes are three hours long and having something in my bag keeps me from wasting money on one of the many eateries in San Francisco.

3. My favorite pens– Sharpie pens used to be my fave and I still love them but they are impractical because they run out of ink too quickly. These however, write smoothly, last a long time, and come in a bunch of colors.

4. This backpack is perfection. The frost green is my favorite color and I have been wanting an actual backpack for awhile, I usually just use a big purse or an art bag if I am toting around a bunch of supplies. I do wish that this color was available in the Big size.

5. Sandals aren't always appropriate in San Francisco, so for the few months of warmth I want to show off my pretty painted toenails in these.

6. I am constantly snapping pictures of things that remind me with my phone but lately my phone has been stupid and the battery lasts four minutes so picture time isn't really possible, I think this camera may be just the thing to keep me feeling inspired and from smashing my phone with a hammer out of frustration.

7. Sunglasses are a necessity for me even on foggy days since my eyes are pretty sensitive to light, and you can't go wrong with these classics.

8. I already have a bike and she (I call her Sheila) is great but that doesn't stop me from lusting after this beauty. On days that I didn't feel like making the two mile walk to school I would love to be riding on this bright and cheery bike.

9. I have been using my Klean Kanteen for almost five years and I love it but with my long days at school and the warm weather my water doesn't stay as cold as I would like it to so I think that this bottle would be a great upgrade.

So those are the things that would brighten up my summer semester, is there anything I should be using/coveting and missed?