A t-shirt can say so much...or not

I've had to laugh recently. I bought my wife a t-shirt, as a joke, featuring a character from one of our favourite recent films, The Hangover. Here's the guilty garment...

Now every time she wears it she's bombarded by family members, friends and general gossip mongers wanting to know if she's trying to tell them something. Just to make it clear, she's not! As if we'd announce something as important as that via the medium of clothing. I just thought it was a cool design and it made me smile. Thankfully, it made my wife smile too, though not as much as the ridiculous comments it seems to provoke.

The beauty of info graphics

Sometimes in my job a situation will arise where I'll have to make something that may seem a little dull really zing and come to life. The challenge of taking heavily scientific and technical information and making it digestible to the target audience in a way which engages and entices.

With that in mind, info graphics has become a handy way of doing just this. Not only this, but, if done well, they can also create some truly beautiful visuals. And not many are doing it better than these guys. Not only doing it, but teaching the world how to do it as well.

Here's a few examples that I particularly like and that I feel work really well. I hope you agree.

And it works just as well in moving image.

Oh Rocky, Rocky...

As a huge Arsenal fan I can't let the week pass by without mentioning one of my favourite ever players to grace the famous red and white shirt, David Rocastle, who tragically died of non-hodgkin's lymphoma 10 years ago yesterday.

Rocky was not only an outstanding footballer, he was also a true gent, down-to-earth and humble, something completely out of keeping with the modern day footballer. I had the pleasure of meeting him on a number of occasions and he always took time to chat to us, pose for photos or sign shirts. He always felt like one of us, on our level even though he was blessed with sublime talent.

He was a major part of the team that won probably the most thrilling championship in English history, secured at Anfield in '89 when Mickey Thomas scored 'that goal.' I'll never forget that night and I'll never forget Rocky - loads of love and R.I.P. x

Successful ingredients

I was having a look at the winners and finalists for the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year Awards for 2011 and came across this winner in the Graphics category.

It's for IKEA and was produced by Swedish interactive graphics agency Forsman & Bodenfors. The title is Homemade is Best and these images feature in the cook book and iPhone app, the idea stemming from the insight that excitement for a new IKEA kitchen could be harnessed by influencing the consumers idea of life within it.

The book contains 30 recipes as an introduction to Swedish baking. Inspiration has been taken from Japanese minimalism to compose these graphic still lifes, beautifully bringing the ingredients centrestage, the result being 'a playful new look at the traditional presentation of cookery.'