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The Evolution of a Scientific American Information Graphic: Where the Wild...

Have you ever wondered how—and why—infographers push beyond familiar forms such as bar charts and network diagrams when translating information from a spreadsheet into an illustration? Data... -- Read...

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How I Reconciled My Love for Art and Science

In college in the 1990s, I suffered an identity crisis. Was I a scientist or an artist? I loved the clarity and order inherent to the scientific process; ask questions, set up methodologies, collect......

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4 Ways to Venus: An Artist’s Assignment

Irving Geis (1908–1997) is probably best known for illustrations of biological macromolecules, such as his groundbreaking watercolor painting of myoglobin—an exhaustive and beautiful portrait of the......

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Don’t Just Visualize Data—Visceralize It

The title of this post borrows from ideas presented by Sha Hwang at the Visualized conference in New York City several weeks ago: He kicked off the data-visualization event with a talk that—in... --...

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Evolution of the Scientific American Logo

Scientific American’s logotype has undergone subtle shifts, large leaps and occasional bouts of nostalgia. The image series below outlines the history of the publication’s identity, starting with...

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Scientific American Graphics Win 2 Medals at Malofiej

The 22nd annual Malofiej International Infographics Summit (hosted in Pamplona, Spain by the Spanish chapter of the Society for News Design) concluded today with award announcements. I’m... -- Read...

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How Do You Visualize the Brain? [Contest]

Here at Scientific American, we develop lots of infographics about the brain. From classic neural pathway diagrams, depictions of medical breakthroughs, and maps of the brain’s genetic... -- Read more...

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On Climate Surveys, the People Agree—Mostly [Interactive]

It’s interesting to see how different points can pique the interest of different people looking at the same data set. My colleague Mark Fischetti (senior editor and partner-in-crime for many of... --...

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A Look under the Hood of Online Data Visualization

Andy Kirk (of Visualising Data) recently published a clever image-driven post in which he uses automobiles to make a series of points about the practice of data visualization. Interestingly, cars... --...

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Beyond Classic Brain Illustrations That Make Us Drool

I threw down a bit of a challenge last month at the Association of Medical Illustrators Conference in Minnesota. But first, I had to—somewhat unexpectedly—accept some challenges presented by others.......

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A Monkey’s Blueprint

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post from Martin Krzywinski, a contributing artist who designed the Graphic Science illustration in the September issue of Scientific American magazine.... --...

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Art and Science of the Moiré

I’m a bit obsessed with Scientific American covers, but my knowledge of the archive during the years before my time on staff is broad rather than deep. Artist Philippe Decrauzat, on the other... --...

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Visualizing 4-Dimensional Asteroids

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post from Jake VanderPlas, a data scientist who worked on the Graphic Science illustration in the October issue of Scientific American magazine. One of... --...

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SA Recognized for Great Infographics

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... -- Read...

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Mars’s First Close-up

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s Mariner IV spacecraft (November 28, 1964). In total, the mission gave us 21 complete images of Mars, including this, our first close... -- Read...

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The Evolution of a Scientific American Information Graphic: Clues to...

Every graphic is a new adventure. Some of our magazine articles involve abstract concepts that require lots of time and energy at the front-end, making decisions about what, exactly should be... --...

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The Influential Murals (Really!) of Scientific American Founder Rufus Porter

Perhaps the tweet below from editor-in-chief Mariette DiChristina last weekend shouldn’t have been a surprise. After all, I knew that Rufus Porter, founding editor and publisher of Scientific... --...

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Math Is Beautiful, But Is It Art?

Every so often, beauty comes up as a topic of conversation in editorial meetings at Scientific American. Surely there’s an article, or series of articles that we can develop on the topic? After... --...

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How to Choose the Form of an Infographic: It’s All about Context

As a graphics designer, I have a love/hate relationship with circles. The humble form provides a relief from rigid rectangular chart structures that are pinned to x- and y-axes. The shape can... --...

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Pop Culture Pulsar: Origin Story of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures Album...

Sure, I was familiar with the graphic—and I’m not alone. Drop this image (right) on someone’s desk and chances are they’ll reflexively blurt, “Joy Division.” The... -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

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