Jessica Hische has created this lovely flowchart that makes it easier for creatives to decide whether they should work for free or not. As you may have guessed, the answer is “No” for most cases but there are some exceptions to this rule. You just got to love Jessica’s honesty in answers like this:

Did they promise you “exposure” or “a good portfolio piece”?
➔ This is the most toxic line of bullshit anyone will ever feed you.

The flowchart is completely crafted in HTML / CSS and can be translated using Google Translate. You can also download the JPG version or wait for the prints to come.

The visualzation is based on the “Theme River” visualization method we’ve seen in the Last.FM Visualization for example. Now instead of a linear timeline, Irene “wrapped” the graph around the 24 hour clock. This makes sense as the data represents only average numbers for any day.

Speaking of the data, here’s how to read the visualization:
The length of a wedge represents the amount of passengers per hour. So, it comes down to comparing the length of the wedges to see where and when more people pass a station. I have to say that comparing bars that are ordered around a circle isn’t the most intuitive way to compare their length.

The application lets the user choose between the different transportation lines or view them altogether. After clicking on a wedge a bar chart appears that displays the absolute numbers thus making comparing much easier.

The project was released as part of the Visualization Challenge by the Executive Office of Transportation. SVG is used to visualize the data with the help of Raphaël JS. More information can be found on the project website.

The size of the applet and the used color scheme diminish the usefulness but it gives a quick overview at the first glance. What I would love to see DailyRadar doing is opening up this small application and let the user customize the input. This could be an intersting method to measure, track and compare trends (in a similar way trends.google.com works)

The visualization method reminded me of the LastGraph project, which I highly recommend if you haven’t come across it yet. LastGraph uses data from last.fm and creates a stream graph visualization of the listening history.

Chknbone created a flow chart of the song “Today was a good day” by Ice Cube. Even if he uses some elements slightly incorrect it’s woth a look none the less.
View the full map on Flickr