As someone for whom numbers sometimes look like cute little characters that need a name before I pay them any attention, I can relate to the very real fact that statistics often hit us as meaningless. Chris Jordan in Seattle has created some amazing works of art to bring these startling statistics to life. You should go see the entire set, but here’s a preview. Below is a picture of one million plastic cups- the number used on airline flights every SIX HOURS. Maybe I’ll start packing a reusable cup in my purse…
Detail image:
you might like this artist also, she has done something sort of similar (although i realized after i clicked through to the link it is less similar than i initially thought! when you said statistics i was thinking it was somehow about the actual digits…)
http://www.20×200.com/artists/lauren-dicioccio.html
she has taken pages from old magazines and assigned each letter of the alphabet a color value, and then transcribed the text into color. really lovely. the 20×200 site is seriously blowing my budget these days!
This is such a cool site, Hampton. Thanks!