I hate to repeat myself like this but let’s run this one again.

Throughout 2008 I tracked dozens of variables, most collected from categories of geographic location, recreation, food & beverage, and communication. I collected these data in an Excel file comprising 14 worksheets in excess of 100,000 cells. The process took minutes per day and that minimal investment is paying out huge returns here at the end of the year as I learn new techniques for data analysis, extrapolate conclusions from 2008 – some of which I knew intuitively while others surprised me – and represent them visually.

The work has been nothing short of exhilarating and I want to encourage you to undertake it also.

Instructions

1. Design information in four ways to represent 2008 as you experienced it. This can mean:
   • four separate PowerPoint slides with one design apiece,
   • one JPEG with four designs gridded onto it,
   • an Excel spreadsheet inset with four charts,
   • etc.

   Feel free to use pies, bars, dots, bubbles, Sparklines, stacks, or designs of your own construction.

2. Submit your designs. Either:
   • post them to your blog and e-mail me a link, or
   • e-mail them to me as an attachment.
3. Post your reflections either:
   • in the comments here, or
   • at your own blog.

Illustrative Examples

1. Last year’s entries.
2. Nicholas Felton’s 2008 Report, to which this content owes a debtTo all the armchair graphic designers hating in the comments, time to give it a shot yerselves..

Deadline

• Monday, February 2, 23h59, Pacific Standard Time

Judges

• TBD

Prize

• A subscription to rockin’ good design periodical Before & After magazine.
• A complete set of dy/dan NECC buttons, of which there is only one set in circulation. For good reason. Etc.
• A hardcopy of Nicholas Felton’s 2008 Annual Report.

Prizes for First Place, First Runner Up, and People’s Choice Award. Don’t forget to declare your winnings next April, etc.

Legal

• You own your images, though we’ll post them here (attributed) and, in all likelihood, pick several apart.
• Let’s limit this to those with some demonstrable connection to education – students, teachers, professionals, edubloggers. Basically, no professional designers slumming it.