When it comes down to get creative, often people think of picking up a brush and start doodling away in hope of becoming the next Picasso. Well, first of all, there will only be one Van Gogh, one Picasso, one Basquiat – and thousands more, but each one unique – so you’re best hope is to become the next big you.

But that’s not the real reason for this article. By creativity I was thinking about it in a more global way. For the last couple of years we’ve been looking at a growth of the number of people creating new ways to approach data. New ways to visualize it. We have concepts such as data mining, business intelligence and more for years now. But those are business related and more often than not they come down to show numbers and stats in a grid like approach. The curse of the spreadsheet as I call it. There’s really no sense in keep looking at a bunch of numbers without understanding them – or even make an effort . Most spreadsheets used in most corporations have been neglected because they’re messy, boring to look at. Even the really important stuff. But finally data visualization is changing. And people are starting to look at numbers and figures with a different and surprising way.

I started to realize this by listening to Brian Suda’s talks in SAPO Codebits back in 2009 and 2010. (By the way, Brian Suda has since edited a book “Designing with Data”.) But that was only the beginning of it all. There is a couple of famous TED Talks around this subject. David McCandless: the beauty of data visualization and Hans Rosling stats are the best examples I can remember. Fun, awarness increasing ways to show us what would be nothing but meaningless numbers.

Then again you could just say that they’re not really creating anything but using what’s already there. Well… isn’t that the real meaning of creation? You begin with a thought. That’s exclusive. But you have to put it in practice. And for that you rely on materials, sources, inspiration. All those things were already there also. It is the way you approach your idea and how you materialize it that makes the difference.

Now we have a whole new discipline. A new business really. Infographics (or info-graphics) are exploding everywhere. You’ve seen then in magazines, TV channels, the web. There are designers and developers specializing themselves on this. There are companies dedicated to infographics. And there are brilliant examples. Some funny, some just genius artworks. But it all comes down to: how to grab what’s already there for the taking and transform it in a way that makes it simple, fun and extraordinary to look at while conveying an idea and putting them in perspective.

So, if you feel the urge to create something new, why not start with the next elections polls? Or your city demographics? There’s a new perspective on creativity, right?

I’ll leave you with a couple of links to websites that have examples on good infographics.

http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/40-useful-and-creative-infographics/

http://www.coolinfographics.com/

 

UPDATE: Thank you to Pedro Moura Pinheiro for reviewing the text and point out some English “faux pas”.