Nicholas Feltron, the amazingly brilliant designer dedicated to data, made famous by documenting his every action and encounter in extreme detail. While many of us chronicle our lives through our social media identities (facebook, twitter, foursquare…) for Feltron, it was something different. His mission is about learning and teaching. And the results are magnificent.
If you are smart enough to look beyond your own nose and wonder why on earth anyone would even care about such things, think of the kinds of things one could potentially LEARN from such an explorations. All kinds of information on motivators, behavioural triggers and emotion. Sounds more interesting now doesn’t it? A great quote from the WSJ:
Everyone creates data — every smile, conversation and car ride is a potential datapoint. These quotidan aggregators believe that the compilation of our daily activities can reveal the secret patterns that govern the way we live. For students of personal informatics, the practice is liberating because it shows that our lives aren’t random, and are more orderly than some might expect.
This isn’t a completely novel idea, it reflects the motivation behind Benjamin Franklin’s Virtue Chart-yet the final product he creates is mesmerizing-ly awesome. Feltron is an artist and he turns all this data into something of true beauty. Data visualization is such a fascinating art, and is growing in popularity by the day as we all become just a little more data obsessed in our everyday lives. Feltron is a true master of the art.
I’m waiting for my letterpress copy (yes, I’ve already ordered it).
Order yours here:
Eagerly awaiting but until then they have shared a few images of the process:
(Images via: Swayspace Blog)