Beautiful and Provocative Information Design.

The Economist has recently released an issue focusing on global climate change; an issue that is timely, pertinent and cuts across almost every topic of relevance to their readers. Working with climate scientist Ed Hawkins who is known for his graphic data visualizations, the climate issue cover shows a beautiful and frightening graphic that demonstrates the change in climate seen over the 168 years.

Each vertical line of the design represents the average temperature of the planet in comparison to the average temperature between 1971 and 2000. As is often the case with brilliant information design, the complex data has been turned into a very graphic and compelling illustration of the change to global temperatures. The result is bat the same time a simplified summary of the science and a statement more powerful that scientific data could ever deliver.

Hawkins describes his Warming Stripes to be free of numbers so as to be “as simple as possible,” such that they “fill a gap and enable communication with minimal scientific knowledge required to understand their meaning.”

Dave Ansett
David is the founder of Truly Deeply, a branding agency with 25 years experience working with brands to position them for growth. His deep expertise is in the creation of high engagement brands that attract the attention of their audience and stand out from their competitors. David has extensive experience working with corporate, retail, food & beverage and entrepreneurial clients. Find out more here
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