Here are some videos that visualize our Social and Economic Complex System with different perspectives. They are indeed not just good examples of well done infographic and movie design, but also inspiring examples about how to visualize the Economy in its complexity. Design for Complexity means also using design to explain complexity and make it easy for people to understand.

Let’s start with the Crisis of the Credit that clearly explains how the financial crisis of the years 2007 – … started.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

We can watch now a short and funny explanation (but not so rich and complete actually) about Greece’s current financial crisis.

The Greek Crisis Explained, Episode 1 from NOMINT on Vimeo.

The Greek Crisis Explained, Episode 2 from NOMINT on Vimeo.

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via | Network Weaving

After the post where I wrote about flocking algorithms used in a site-specific art/design installation by Todo Design, I ‘d like here to write about another experiment with such algorithms.

While surfing on Vimeo I found this video by Aaron Westre from Minneapolis (Minnesota, USA), where he explains very well his master’s degree thesis on using flocking algorithms in order to design 3D architectures; here’s the video:

Introduction to Complexity Machine 1 from Aaron Westre on Vimeo.

Moving between design, science and computation Aaron Westre developed his his own software (you can download it here), “Complexity Machine 1” using the open source software Processing, where he runs his behavioral simulation describing the rules of the agents.

What is interesting in this project, is that the complexity of a system is not used as just inspiration or decoration, but as whole different way to design a structure, as if it were designed or modeled by a flock of birds.
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code_swarm. An experiment in organic software visualization is an application created by Michael Ogawa with Processing, that gathers data about the history of an open source / free software community and visualizes it in a video. Here’s the video for the Python programming language:

code_swarm – Python from Michael Ogawa on Vimeo.

I’ve been studying software projects for a while now. Not the programming, but the people — the way they interact with each other through collaboration and communication.

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You can’t force people to follow directions they deem arbitrary.

via | reddit

A desire line is a path developed by erosion caused by animal and/or human footfall. The path usually represents the shortest and/or most easilly navigated route between an origin and destination. The width and amount of erosion of the line represents the amount of demand. Desire lines were used in early transportation planning, prior to the advent of computerized models.

They are manifested on the surface of the earth in certain cases, e.g. as dirt pathways created by people walking through a field, when the original movement by individuals helps clear a path, thereby encouraging more travel. Explorers may tred a path through foliage or grass, leaving a trail ‘of least resistance’ for followers.

Similarly they may be seen along an unpaved road shoulder or some other unpaved natural surface. The paths take on a rather organically grown appearance by being unbiased toward existing constructed routes. These are almost always the most direct and the shortest route between two points and may later be surfaced.

Desire lines can usually be found as shortcuts in places where constructed pathways take a circuitous route.

Many streets in old cities began as desire lines which evolved over the decades or centuries into the modern streets of today.

via wikipedia