Help Us Speak at SXSW

It seems like a long way off, but South-by-Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) is just around the corner (March 2009).  At the moment, the public is voting on what speaking panels should be accepted for the event.  When the voting finishes (August 29, 2008) the SXSW staff will consider the results of the voting when deciding what panels will be picked.

I say all this because I hope you'll vote for our panel. :) Here are the details:

Shift Happens: Moving from Words to Pictures

Japan Tobacco's Clever and Strange Smoking Manners Signs

Japan is surely one of the politest places you're likely to visit.  If you ask someone for directions, there is a good chance they will walk you there themselves. Behaving honorably is an important part of the culture and there is never a lack of signs, often cleverly illustrated, reminding the public of what is expected.

One of the most interesting and clever examples I found is produced by Japan Tobacco. In smoking areas, on trains and near ashtrays, there are often signs related to smoking and behavior in crowds. Notice the minimalist illustrations and the strange-but-effective messaging from these examples.

VizThink in Review

Text and bullet points - they are dead, or at least used inappropriately.  That was one of the overwhelming messages from VizThink, a two day conference on Visual Thinking.  We agree.

Visual Thinking Resources

We're headed to a conference called VizThink in a few days.  It's a conference on Visual Thinking.  It wasn't clear to us when we got started, but our videos are examples of visual thinking and I've been keeping an eye out for related resources.