A world of abstract made real.

Every day our world becomes more abstract, more virtual, more complex. But there are those of us that seek to make it real. Seek to harness that which is too vast to comprehend and give it form and clarity. Those individuals look to visualize data into forms that everyone can not only interpret, but feel… and understand.

Data visualization is perhaps one of the most significant challenges in the design world. Design that must make sense beyond just form and function. It must seek to process data in the same ways that the mind does and ad graphical clarity to this as well. Flowing Data spotlighted Their pics for the 5 Best Data Visualization Projects of 2008 back in January. Sure this is not breaking news or anything, but inspiration is inspiration and when looked at these this morning I was moved and energized, so of course I wanted to share.

Looking at these projects led me to the MoMA website for Design an the Elastic Mind, and amazing website for “the exhibition that highlights designers’ ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and history—changes that demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior—and translate them into objects that people can actually understand and use.” While the website itself if abstract its is engaging and inspirational itself and as I told our staff….WARNING: Stay clear of this link unless you have some time to kill. The interaction that at first seems confusing resolves to be incredibly addictive and provides extensive exposure to the sites heavy content.

So where does this all lead? Think abstract, and bring that down to earth to make it real, but as creatives we must never ever ground the interpretation so much that is loses its ability to inspire others, the way the initial information inspired us.