Lonely Planet are working on an exciting new visual guide to the world, titled “How to Land a Jumbo Jet” based on a unique collection of cultural and travel-inspired visualisations. To help create this book they want to crowd-source innovative ideas and creations from across the visualisation and design community.
As noted on Infosthetics, visualisation contests are becoming more prevalent every week. However, this particular venture should be viewed in a different light. It is not about a single submission winning a cash prize and the remaining entries disappearing into the abyss of an online gallery. Rather, it is about a significant volume of submissions being selected to be published in a book.
The Brief
The book will feature a number of infographics that present stories and insights around the many varied experiences that come from world travel. It is clearly a broad brief giving you a wonderful blank canvas on which to arrive at a unique visualisation-based perspective about your experiences of different countries, cultures, people, modes of travel, local customs, souvenirs, political histories, cuisine etc.
We want infographics that illuminate, entertain and inform. We want them to be great examples of information design, and we want the information in them to be true and for them to have a good degree of integrity. That doesn’t mean they can’t be light-hearted though!
Lonely Planet will select approximately 70 of the best, most innovative pitches and commission them to be created, with a fee of US$300 being paid for those commissioned. You might not think this is a great amount, but the real incentive is that the selected designers will receive guidance and feedback from the editor of the book – infographic designer, Nigel Holmes – and of course you will have the considerable pride of seeing your work published in the book, to be launched at the end of the year.
How to submit
If you have an idea for a visualisation or infographic you need to construct a compelling pitch. A pitch does not have to be complete – sketches, mock-ups or even a written pitch for your concept are fine. Then all you have to do is email through your submission by March 20, 2011 (keeping the file size to less than 2MB).
Pitches may be in the form of scanned rough sketches, vector artwork, or a verbal description of the project. The more information (visual and verbal) that is supplied in the pitch, the better – we want to be convinced to choose your work. Additional information supporting the nature and quality of your work – eg. CV, relevant folio, website – would also be helpful.
Specifications
Lonely Planet have published some useful guidelines for the specific qualities they will be looking for in the published information graphics:
- creative research
- freedom from convention
- authoritative but witty
- excitement with graphic control
- complexity made clear
- fascinating and informative images
- aspects of travel that we hadn’t thought of. Surprise us!
What do they not want to see?
We do not want data dumps that might look visually attractive, but that make no point. Instead, edit the data rigorously, and ask yourself the question: “what’s the point I’m making in this graphic?”. Then make that point shine.
Hopefully these guidelines will help ensure we don’t have a repeat of last year’s infamous ‘Little Book of Shocking Global Facts‘…