The Intersection of Design & Motherhood
Brooke sent me the link to Information Is Beautiful. It showcases well-designed infographics — which sounds totally dry, but I find it addictive. Information that I would normally care less about, is suddenly interesting to me because it’s been made visually compelling. Take a look at this “World Map of Touristyness.”
What about you? Are you a visual person? More left-brained or more right-brained?
Previous post: A Baby Story from Jessica Ranjbari
Next post: Heart & Stone Giveaway
New to Design Mom? Here are 10 posts to get you started:
What to Wear To Middle School
Napoleon Dynamite
Our Birth Announcements
Potato Print Clothing
Having Another Child
Young Einstein Birthday Party
Little Red LightHouse Outing
Porch Makeover
Waving Goodbye To The Atlantic Ocean
Build Two Toddler Beds for $75
Pimp My Ride: Family Edition
We love coming up with fun valentines to make and give. Here are some of our favorites (many are candy free!):
3-D Lollipop Valentines - Easy! And a big hit. Try it with crazy straws or pencils too.
Fortune Teller Valentines - with free printable!
You Blow Me Away, Valentine! - Everyone loves party blowers. : )
Wild Animal Valentines - Family Fun Magazine requested my idea for their latest issue.
Mad Lib Valentines - Family Fun requested this idea too!
Friendship Bracelet Valentines
And here are a few more ideas I've featured over the years that I bet you'll love:
- Fresh Fruit Valentines
- Color Theory Valentines
- DIY Scratch Off Valentines
- Shaving Cream Valentines
- Mini Valentine Boxes
Here's something fun. Our family was featured in an episode of House Hunters International! Spoiler: we choose the gorgeous French Farmhouse. It's called La Cressonnière and we take pictures of it all the time. If you're curious, try these links:
The Kitchen
Summer at La Cressonnière
The Halfbath
The Stairwell
The Neighbors
Ralph's Bedroom
The Studio
Springtime at La Cressonnière
The Living Room
Maude's Bedroom
The Artists
Oscar & Betty's Bedroom
The Exterior
The Floors
Olive's Bedroom
The Treehouse
The House: La Cressonnière
I hope you enjoy the house tour! Oh. And if you'd like to see the episode, you can find it on Youtube here (it's in four parts).
I write a weekly column called Inspiration Scout on Cafémom. Find new posts on Thursdays.
I write a daily post (Monday through Friday) for Babble's Family Style blog.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
I think I’ve stumbled upon them before. I like the CO2 emissions balloon graph…although I doubt CO2 emissions measurements are supposed to look that fun!
I’m a 50%-50% split Right and Left. And proud of it!!
These are cool! I’m “middle brained”, like Bri. I love the illustrations, but from my miserable attempts to assemble Playmobil, I know that I also need some written directions to really get it.
I’m starting to teach my right-brained boys about the concept of mind-mapping as a way to make written information more visual.
I am way more visual :) Which i love! Have you ever seen the light usage map that shows how bright cities around the world glow at night? its gorgeous!
oooo I adore information design. Especially because it’s not an aspect of design that comes easily to me. I’m always in awe of excellently presented information. Thanks for the link!
Great example of the power design holds to inform. Love it! Thanks for sharing!
Okay, I want that CO2 emission chart for the sustainability report I’m writing! Retro, cool, and a fun way to get your point across. (Much better than the line graphs my boss wants…)
I think you’ve just killed my productivity for the rest of the week. I love this stuff!
Ah, I adore this stuff. It also makes me excited about the wide range of tools with which to expand my daughter’s brain as she gets older. The realm of options is so colorful and exciting now, not to mention super cool-looking, which obviously is high on the list of importance. ;)
I love that website!
It’s also a book: “The Visual Miscellaneum: A Colorful Guide to the World’s Most Consequential Trivia” by David McCandless http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061748366?ie=UTF8%20&tag=harpercollinspub&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0061748366
It’s beautiful; I set it out as a coffee table book and guests love to browse through it because it’s so pretty and the data/trivia is fun.
I was intrigued by the world touristy-ness picture…until I realised New Zealand wasn’t even on there!!! It made me laugh, especially given with what a thriving tourism economy we have going on here!
I agree. This site is beautiful!
these are awesome.
also- can i get your mailing address? I have something for june.
Have you ever read any of Edward Tufte’s books? If you love information design, then you would appreciate his works. I went to his one-day seminar and it was the most fascinating work-related course that I’ve ever attended (I am a report designer/developer when I am not blogging about yard sales).
http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/
I am visual, definitely. I love the posters, but have to disagree with the last one, Texans drive larger than average vehicles. The whole state is one big truck or Suburban!
oh my, I am in love with this website. i think I will be there all day.
Thanks for that. My old stand-by for infographic inspiration is http://www.good.is/departments/transparency/ Really helps get my brain moving when I’m trying to think of new ways to visually communicate the same old thing…
LOVE this! DEFINITELY visual. What a neat talent.
The visualized date information is amazing. But how can we know the data source is dependable? What if the data itself is wrong?