October 14, 2014

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Stunning Infographics Net SciAm Two Awards

I’m thrilled to report that two Scientific American graphics (on bees and caffeine) are featured in The Best American Infographics 2014.

By Jen Christiansen

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


I’m thrilled to report that two Scientific American graphics (on bees and caffeine) are featured in The Best American Infographics 2014.

The book, which is edited by Gareth Cook, includes an impressive range of graphic styles and subject matter–from a fresh look at T. Rex (Nature) to an illustrated and playful look at the evolution of Justin Bieber (National Post) to a clean data-driven display of gun laws since Newtown (New York Times).

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The common thread? As statistician Nate Silver writes in the introduction, “…modern information design is equal parts art and science, form and function, architecture and engineering. It combines the best of at least three fields of achievement: aesthetics, technology, and journalism.” The best infographics combine those fields into a product that “tells a story that couldn’t be told in any other way.”

Thanks to collaborators Moritz Stefaner, Jillian Walters, and Golden Section Graphics (represented by Dirk Aschoff and Klaas Neumann) for lending their talents to the pages of Scientific American, and for creating visual explanations for the magazine that transcend their original context.

Here are the featured print graphics (below). For web-formatted versions of the graphics and text, see Where the Wild Bees Are and Caffeine High. For more on the bee graphic and a detailed look at how Stefaner developed the data visualization, see the process explanation on his blog.

"Why So Jittery?" from the November 2013 print issue of Scientific American. Graphic by Golden Section Graphics; Sources: Nutritionaction.com; Center for Science in the Public Interest

The Best American Infographics series editor, Gareth Cook, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a regular contributor to NewYorker.com, and editor of “Mind Matters,” Scientific American’s neuroscience blog.

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Jen Christiansen is acting chief of design and senior graphics editor at Scientific American, where she art directs and produces illustrated explanatory diagrams and data visualizations. She is also author of the book Building Science Graphics: An Illustrated Guide to Communicating Science through Diagrams and Visualizations (CRC Press). In 1996 she began her publishing career in New York City at Scientific American. Subsequently she moved to Washington, D.C., to join the staff of National Geographic (first as an assistant art director–researcher hybrid and then as a designer), spent four years as a freelance science communicator and returned to Scientific American in 2007. Christiansen presents and writes on topics ranging from reconciling her love for art and science to her quest to learn more about the pulsar chart on the cover of Joy Division’s album Unknown Pleasures. She holds a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a B.A. in geology and studio art from Smith College. Follow Christiansen on Bluesky @jenchristiansen.com

More by Jen Christiansen

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