Recently found an interesting case on The Global Water Footprint of Humanity. This was an MA project in Information Design by Angela Morelli who recently spoke in Norway for Grafilledit (reason why I found her), which is surfacing to some worthy attention. I think what is interesting when you look at the work is learning of the designer´s background which is engineering and math (at least a passion I read). You could say that all design really is mathematics, but in her case I think it is a key tool for a powerful visual vocabulary. She based her project upon data by Unesco and the Universitety of Twente in The Netherlands, of which she says “The starting point of my statistical analysis was a long list of numbers and tables, but before plotting any data it was necessary to understand where those numbers came from. My background in engineering helped me to understand the figures, the formulas, and the mathematical structure of the subject.”
“Everything I have designed has a format based on the geometry of the water molecule, where the bonding angle of the two hydrogens is 104,45 degrees. The water footprint concept is a practical tool to analyze how much water is used for producing our goods and services, showing how countries can externalize their water footprint in order to reduce the pressure on the domestic water resources, and how other countries can profit from their relative abundance of water by exporting water rich commodities.”
Among the 900 page book, she also made models, and maps. You can tell that many countries are missing in there but the accessibility of such data is a topic by itself !
I love her quote on the frontpage of her website: the same design that overfuels massconsumption also holds the power to repair the world.
What impressed me overall with Angella was the overall body of work. She covers very big fields of information and delivers them in a format that will entitle them to be looked at.
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Thanks so much. Best, A.