The Effects of Heroin Addiction [Infographic]

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Seda in Drug Abuse No Comments

Introduction:

Smack, Tar, Brown Sugar, Junk, Skag, China White – No matter what you call it Heroin is a highly addictive drug that inflicts horrible physical, psychological and mental problems for anyone addicted to it. In today’s infographic we take a detailed look at some of the short-term and long-term effects this drug can have on a user’s body.

Information: ★★★★

I’m quite impressed with the information presented in this infographic. We are given a short explanation as to what heroin is and how much an average addict would spend each day. Then we are confronted with some pretty unflattering images of a user and the various short and long term effects the drug can have on one’s body.

We then delve into some of the statistics related to the drug and it’s use. It’s quite sad to note that most heroin users are younger than 26 and that nearly 1 in 3 high school seniors say that heroin is easy to obtain.

Finally, we are presented with some of the dangers beyond addiction with the primary danger being hepatitis and/or HIV infection through the sharing of needles.

Design: ★★★★

The design is spot on. I like the use of images, mainly, the addict who goes from bad to worse as we see the difference between the short and long term effects. The image of a burning spoon also hits home at just how nasty this drug really is.

The colors used are dark and grim to express the seriousness of this topic and the fonts used to highlight the statistics stand out as planned.

Creativity: ★★★

I think this is a very creative infographic in terms of topic and design. It’s original and will hopefully be shared by a lot of mommy bloggers and drug rehabilitation websites in order to spread awareness.

Conclusion:

Overall, a very good infographic covering a very important social issue. This is certainly the type of graphic that any blogger with a teenage son or daughter should share. Perhaps the only thing missing is some information along the lines of how to detect whether or not your child is using heroin. However, I imagine you can find more detailed information on the website.

drug rehabilitation, heroin addiction, infographics

Bat Surveys Made Simple [Infographic]

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Seda in Bats, Ecology No Comments

Image source: Arbtech Bat Surveys

Introduction:

OK, WTF was my first reaction when I saw this infographic sitting in my inbox this morning. What the hell is a bat survey? Well apparently all across England and Wales there has been an increase in houses being infested by bats! Yes, that’s right bats.

Luckily, the good guys at Arbtech are specialists in arboricultural and ecological surveys to ensure houses are in accordance with Local Authority requirements specific to ‘Bat Mitigation Guidelines’. Still confused?

Information: ★★

OK, I’m really disappointed by the amount of information on this infographic. It reads more like a pamphlet you might receive in your mailbox if you live in an area where bats are known to live.

We are presented with simple yes/no questions that ultimately lead to a ‘You Might Need a Bat’ survey result. It is highly unlikely that this infographic would be shared on many blogs as the niche is too defined.

What the creators should have done was made a more in-depth graphic with pie charts and statistics about problem areas in England and Wales most affected by bats, how many homes have been known to encounter these problems and what issues can arise if the problem isn’t dealt with. A timeline to show this increasing trend would have been nice.

Design: ★★

The design is very amateurish. A real lack of effort has gone into this infographic and this is primarily due to the lack of information. Had more statistics and research been included then the graphic could have been filled up with pie charts and/or bats to represent the increase in certain figures.

Creativity: ★★★

I have to give it three stars for topic creativity. I certainly have not seen an infographic of this nature before however when it comes to visual creativity it gets one star!

Conclusion:

Overall a very disappointing infographic. If the guys at Arbtech were hoping to get this to be shared I think they will be hard pressed to find many bloggers interested in this topic or lack of visually appealing design.

A more professional and statistics based infographic would have served them better which could have been shared on Governmental housing authority websites and home improvements sites.

bats, infographics

Most Expensive Legal Battles [Infographic]

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Seda in Law, Social Media No Comments

Image source: Croftons Solicitors

Introduction:

This infographic covers some of the most expensive legals battles in history from huge litigation cases between major corporations to some of the more expensive and well covered divorce settlements between celebrities and those in the media.

Information: ★★

The information is quite basic. Whilst personally I know ‘most’ of the people and corporations mentioned in this graphic there were a few I had to do a Google search for. There is very little background information on each of the player’s and/or detailed information about what the case entailed.

Surprisingly or perhaps NOT surprisingly, each of the legal settlements between the United States were won by, yes you guessed it – the United States. I wonder whose coffers those funds went to!

Design: ★★

I’m not overly excited about the design of this infographic. The layout is very basic and substandard and something that could have been put together with little effort. However, the colors do convey that of a legal firm which Croftons Solicitors are.

Creativity: ★★

People like a good battles especially when it involved celebrities or those in the media. I think the topic is well suited to the creators of the infographic, they have kept on topic with their core business, however, I would have liked to see a better layout that was more visually appealing and less amateurish.

Conclusion:

More effort is needed next time in terms of design and information. It would have been good to see a bit more background on each corporation and person included in this. Alternatively, a celebrity focused infographic would have been more interesting for the main stream. Think Michael Jackson, O.J. Simpson, Lindsay Lohan ,etc., etc. I would be more interested in seeing some detailed information about their lawsuits and this type of infographic would be more likely to go viral and picked up by gossip mags and the like.

infographics, law, legal battles

Pour de France [Infographic]

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Seda in Alcohol, France, Wine No Comments

Image source: Headwater Holidays

Introduction:

Today we are looking at wine with France in focus. We are presented with a lot of data, the different regions in France and their typical wines. France is often associated with their excellent food, champagne and wine and is the second largest wine producer in the world. To get a vineyard in France is many people’s dream but often a luxury for the well off people in the world.

Information: ★★★★

The information in this infographic is thorough. We learn that France produces an astounding 7 billion bottles of wine per year. That they are bigger on red than white wines and an in-depth description of each major wine producing region. We also learn how much the biggest wine producing countries in the world are producing each year.

Interestingly is the fact that China is producing as much wine as Argentina each year. This might be rice-wines and they are not too popular in the West though. An interesting tidbit is that the oldest wine found is from A.D 325. The roman empire started long before that but the first bottle found with proven age is that old. That is quite interesting since most TV and books about the roman empire always include wine long before that. We learn that women often are better wine tasters than men, however it’s often men that hold this occupation more so than women.

Design: ★★★

The design has a nice color scheme and is using a maps/charts and other elements to compress information. I like the design. It is not groundbreaking but good!

Creativity: ★★

I wouldn’t say that there is anything wrong with the creativity of this infographic but maybe they could have dug up some more information pertaining to Champagne which naturally the French are renowned for.

Conclusion:

This is a pretty good infographic for those wine connaisseurs out there. It is pretty entertaining and you learn quite a lot of interesting facts about French wine and it’s consumption. A job well done by the team at Headwater Holidays who offer packages to various wine regions throughout France.

France, infographic, wine

Breaking Down UK Households [Infographic]

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Seda in Households No Comments

Infographic by QuickQuid.co.uk

Introduction:

Today we take on an infographic with the rather pretentious name “A breakdown of UK households”. It might sound like something that describes everything and it actually is. It shows how households in the UK have changed in quantity over the years. The average household is still only 29% single house holds compared to Sweden where you find a 50%+ single households

Information: ★★★★

The information here is very good. The breakdown on what the different constellations of households spend their money on is very interesting and can be very useful to any marketer that wants to pinpoint and target a certain type of household.

Just taking out some data for myself for fun you can see that the single parent household with 1 kid only spends 35 quid on transportation weekly whereas a household with 2 parents and 2 kids spends 120 quid.

You can of course speculate different reasons for this but one would be that raising a kid as a single parent might be tough and with only 2 persons in the household you are more likely to take the bus instead of owning your own car whereas a 2 parent 2 kid household is most likely to own their own car which skyrockets in transportation costs. These are of course just my speculations but there is a lot of similar things you can draw from this data.

I really like the information in this infographic since you can dig for information and draw parallels in a lot of ways. Information can be used for great discoveries so therefore I rank the information here highly.

Design: ★★★

The design of this infographic is nice. The designer has made good use of graphs and pie charts to break the data down into a visually appealing look making information easy to grasp and compare.

Creativity: ★★★

I wouldn’t say this is the most creative information that you are presented with but I like that you can apply the findings of the Office of National statistics. The data is what you make of it and not just hard steady data like we have seen in many other info graphics.

Conclusion:

This is a great infographic from QuickQuid in comparison to some of their other recent ones. It gives you endless opportunities to use the data and statistics for market research. Beeing a bit of a data buff I love this! Thumbs up!!

households, infographics