Nigel, where have you been?
Just the other day as I ran through Paris following the stock market’s dramatic plunge, I was thinking that we needed Nigel Holmes to make us understand the complexity of it all.
Serendipity comes to the rescue.
My colleague Sara Quinn, of The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, has found Nigel, and her interview with him is available here:
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=47&aid=152213
In his usual cordial and collegial style, Nigel sends me some of his work to share with you: Here are a couple of things you might like to add to your blog; from The New York Times op-ed page on the progress in New Orleans three years after Hurricane Katrina, and from American History on the history of alcohol in the U.S. (missing the magazine-generated intro)” During the golden days of infographics, Nigel Holmes was the pioneer of the modern infographic displaying his enormous talent weekly at TIME Magazine. We used to invite him to speak to newspaper editors, designers and artists at Poynter. He was always a favorite, a crowd pleaser whom we actually had to remove physically from the students so he could catch his plane to return to New York City. No kidding. They could not get enough of Nigel who was almost poetic in his way of presenting information about the simplifying of complex concepts. It was the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic, and I remember clearly Nigel’s exercise with one of our groups: how can you convey the significance of the disease in ten seconds? Everyone gave it a try, then Nigel would show how he handled it at TIME. A generation of infographics artists studied his style and his enormous ability to interpret events. Consequently, a generation of readers had things explained to them much easier. Nigel is still at it, as shown in this interview, a must read for anyone whose business is storytelling . Nigel, the ultimate storyteller, makes it all sound so painless. The one quote from Nigel that we never forget; Everything in your graphic must have a meaning; if you don’t attach it a meaning, the reader will.
Last day in Lagos, Nigeria; flying towards Amsterdam late tonight. TheMarioBlog posting #120Some recent Nigel Holmes graphics
Making sense of it all
A wall of bricks, with a fist running right through it. Impact at first sight, and everyone would get the point of the story. Sample after sample, the Nigel Holmes magic was obvious.
