For die-hard data visualization nerds, there’s Swivel, which Between the Lines calls a YouTube for data and charts. And there’s an online community around it.

Are there really that many data lusters? Yeah, probably. But wait, there’s more. If you’re hardcore, there’s a Swivel graphing API and a graphs page.

I haven’t completely deciphered everything you can do with Swivel yet, but if you can in fact create graphs with it and then embed them on your web pages as content, it has great potential. However, I think it also means exposing your data, since there are links on existing graphs at the site that let you download the dataset. Anyone know? I’ll report back later. I’m signed up for the API, so when I have some time, I’ll try it out.

The buzz right now is that the one of the hottest careers online will be copywriting. While I agree with this, judging by the number of blog and linkbait writing offers I get these days, I think that another hot career will be information graphics design, aka infographics.

Infographics is a part of data visualization. Take quantities of otherwise boring data and produce not ony an attractive diagram/ illustration to represent the data, but do so in a manner that actually helps viewers understand the data. This sort of ability takes great analytic skills, graphic design ability, and good tools.

I am not professionally trained in graphic design, though I’ve been doing my own infographics for probably thirty years now. In my teens, I would browse my father’s college mathematics and statistics books and get a lot of my ideas from there. This is why I love creating diagrams so much, and I spend a fair bit of time trying to use the right one for a given blog article.

As for tools, my current toolset is as follows, in no particular order:

1. Pencil, pen and paper. I keep a clipboard with a small stack of 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper, as well as a small stack of moleskine-style unlined notebooks (approx. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches). I use whatever strikes my mood at a given moment. Moleskines, at least cheap knockoffs, don’t always sit open nicely. But I love them when they do. I find that my best diagrams start off on paper first.
   
   
2. Vector drawing software. Inkscape is free, and is comparable to great tools like Illustrator and Corel Draw.

   
   

3. Raster graphics editors. There are dozens of choices. The big dogs are Photoshop, Paintshop Pro (which is more affordable), and Fireworks, which has both raster and vector abilities. More recently, there are several free web-based options, which I hope to cover here soon.
   
   
4. Business graphics editors. There are tons of choices. I used Visio long before Microsoft bought that company out and made the software expensive for the entrepreneur. Gliffy, which is web-based and free, is competitive, but not as robust. I currently am a huge admirer of SmartDraw (affiliate link - click on this or the graphic above the nav bar and download it free). You can see some of the diagrams I’ve created with it on my SearchEngineJournal articles. I like it because it’s robust and has many great base examples that I can build off of. I’ve also learned diagramming standards for multiple disciplines in only a few short hours of browsing the examples.
   

   
   SmartDraw also lets me create diagrams and infographics that no other package lets me do as easily. Trust me. I’ve been using Visio on and off for about 11 years or longer. I don’t remember being able to do the same thing, though I haven’t tried in a while. I have stacks of complex diagrams on paper that have never made it to digital form in the past year. But now that I have SmartDraw, which I bought last week, I can see finishing them all in the next few weeks - some of which will appear here.
   
   

5. Miscellaneous visualization tools. I am a huge admirer of mindmapping techniques = which I’ve been using for 20+ years - for brainstorming, planning, and some project management. While you can use them for these purposes, they can also serve nicely as infographics for some datasets. There are both standalone applications as well as web browser-based ones. Here are a few, some of which I’ve used and like:
   1. Standalone:
   • FreeMind. This one is free but very basic.
   • Mindapp. This is a very nice package, though probably intermediate in level.
   • MindManager. This is one of the most amazing, robust mindmapping packages. It’s my favorite, with Mindapp a close second. [Update: Someone from MindJet has dropped a comment. I’ll follow up with them. It’s not appearing because I wiped out the entire database over the weekend.]
   • Topicscape. If you need to go beyond mindmapping, to a 3D paradigm, this might be your tool. Read an indepth review of Topicscape.
   2. Browser-based:
      • Bubbl.us. This one is very basic.
      • Mindomo. About on par with Freemind, above, plus additional features including collaboration and sharing.
      • Mindmeister. No collaboration but more features than Mindomo and Freemind.

   I have a large series of reviews of mindmapping software in progress that will appear elsewhere. When it’s published, I’ll drop some links here.

6. Sceen capture:
   While Techsmith’s Snagit is the cream of the crop, freebies abound. Some sit in your browser as an extenion, others run as a standalone application.
   
   
7. Screencasting:

   Again, Techsmith is tops with Camtasia Studio, but the steep price of US$299 might be too much if you just want basic abilities. In that case, try the free, Open Source Camstudio.
   
   

8. Slideshow/ Presentations:
   There are loads of choices in this regard, but my hands-down favorite is SplashCast Media’s SplashCast player. Each frame of a SplashCast can have a variety of content: document (text, PDF, etc.), image, or video. You can record audio over each frame, and run background music as well. It’s my presentation tool of choice at Tubetorial and other websites that I’m hired to write for.tube

So if you’re considering a (side) career in infographics and data visualization, those are some of the tools that you might consider.

The diagrams here were made in SmartDraw, which I’ll talk about soon. It’s not free, but for professional diagrams, it’s one of the most versatile I’ve ever used (and I’ve used a lot). In the week or so I’ve used it, I’ve been able to create complex, professional looking diagrams in 30-60 minutes that might have taken me 2-3 hours in other packages, if they could be made at all and retain their “smart” properties. It still has its flaws, but for my freelance writing, it’s been worth every cent.

I’ll review SmartDraw at length in the future. In the meantime, here are three graph theory diagrams (click to enlarge) that show node connectivity. Feel free to use them for whatever purpose, if they’re of any use to you. I’ll add more complex examples in the future.

Apophysis is a free package based on something called Fractal Flames. Apophysis runs on Windows and generates some of the most breathtaking fractal images. Most of them are based on dynamical systems, and hence some of concentric spirals and loops. For such a little program, there are quite a few parameters you can toy with.

I came across the package in early 2005, when I was doing some fractal research for what was then preparation for entering a Master’s degree. I didn’t continue, for various reasons, but I did fiddle around with Apophysis. It took me a year to really figure out how to play with the parameters, and tiny little changes could have such profound effects in the displayed fractal. (I make it a habit to save intermediate steps regularly because if I go too far in parameter changes, I’m not always able to undo exactly to the stage I was at.)

A few examples are shown on this page (click to enlarge), which you are free to use in any way you want. I will post better ones from time to time. Each successive image is created from slight changes to the previous one.

There is another feature that gives automatic “mutation” images of your fractal, as well as animation window that rotates the current fractal through minute parameter changes. It’s almost like watching a galaxy expand.

What could say “illustration” more than a site called Illustration Class? This is a great, award-winning site that’s not even a year old. In addition to offering some of the best illustration tutorials, the site lets you download a ZIP for each tutorial. Creator Von. R. Glitschka gives instructions in both English and Spanish (in the download).

Recent tutorials include Illustrative Icons, Glassy Icons, graphic design illustration, collage, tattoos, and much more. Regardless of your skill level, you will probably learn something here, or at least enjoy seeing another professional’s techniques in action.

Tubetorial and VideoJug are two streaming video how-to sites. Each offers video instruction of for various topics.

Tubetorial offers “screencasts”, which are video captures of software in use. The site was created by Chris Pearson and Brian Clark, designer and copywriter, respectively, but is now part of the SplashPress group of websites (which include Performancing and 901am, both of which I write for). Much of the older content was aimed at bloggers looking for instruction about blogging platforms, theme design and modification, advertising options, and the like. Newer tubetorials (which I am producing, by the way), will continue in this vein, though I’ll be branching out to cover illustration/ diagramming software, web 2.0 mashups, and more.

VideoJug is a streaming video site along the lines of YouTube. That is, you can embed videos into your website. However, the content at VideoJug is all how-to videos that cover a wide range of topics: food, drink, health, beauty, DIY (do-it-yourself), cars & bicycles, house & garden, pets, sports, and more. If you want to contribute your own work, you can upload both videos and slideshows.

Neither Drawn! nor Monsterosity are “free illustration” sites, however, you can learn a great deal about illustration by studying what’s there.

I’ve been following Drawn! for a couple of years. This multi-author site does an excellent job of showcasing a lot of visual talent across the Internet. It has introduced me to a lot of great illustration sites and online comic books.

Monsterosity seems to be on hold, but there’s an incredible wealth of monster illustrations from Richard Yot. I can only hope the site hasn’t been updated because he’s been busy with work. There are some fabulous monsters there, which will no doubt inspire you in your own work.

Carlos Cabrera is an illustrator based in Argentina. In addition to designing websites, he does a fair bit of “fantasy” and gaming illustration (portfolio). He has put together three massive (300+ Mb AVI) video tutorials and a smaller PDF file that show his illustration process.

The video tutorials include Alien Painting with Photoshop, Vampire Painting with Photoshop, and Metal Painting with Photoshop - which are all part of his Watch and Learn series. There is also a 10 Mb PDF that is from an article of his at 2D Artist magazine.

If you want to learn a bit about drawing fantastical creatures, these tutorials are worth checking out.

The name of this site might be a bit misleading as there will be more than just free diagrams here. Here’s a quick list of what I’m hoping to offer here:

• Free diagrams, illustrations, fractals, images, mindmaps, information graphics and other visual content that you can download and use. They will be marked in a manner that makes it clear that they have Creative Commons license.

• Links to free visual content, including videos, at other sites.
• Tutorials (or links) on a variety and software covering mostly graphic illustration and data visualization tools and technique. (While I do draw in pencil, pen and ink, I don’t have enough skill to teach it. I’m self-taught and inconsistent.)
• Reviews of software used to create visual content - both standalone and web-based.

I’ll add other types of posts here as I think of them. Hopefully you will enjoy the posts as much as I will creating them. Please respect the copyrights and Creative Commons licenses of those sites that I link to. I will state here which items of mine are free to use.