How many of you watched this and was surprised as well?

I just finished watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead on Netflix. It’s a documentary about a guy who decides to reboot his life by going on a juice only fast for 60 days. He lost weight and everything you would expect from such a drastic change in lifestyle. He was energized, didn’t rely on his medication, and had a better outlook on life.

After many years of overworking and not paying attention to my diet, I think age has finally caught up. Today, I struggled to remember words, concepts, and experiences as I was responding to an email. Just a few years back, I would be able to do that while tweeting, listening to music, watching a movie, and drinking a soda.

For me, I’m naturally a small build. I can eat massive amounts of food and not gain significant weight. Instead, it all affects my mood and arteries. So, starting today, and my defacto New Year’s resolution, I will be going on a hybrid juice diet. I’m not going to give up eating all meals, but will replace at least 50 – 75% of my meals with juice.

Using data to analyze my progress

As a technologist, I love tech toys. In the health world, there is a lot of tech to monitor virtually everything. The advantage of doing so is the amount of data I can collect over time versus my periodic checkup at the doctor’s office.

I’m currently using:

1. a Fitbit to track activity level (flights of stairs, steps taken) and sleep quality (number of times awoken at night). The app also has a form to manually track body measurements.
2. DNA sequencing from 23andme. This is a little creepy but I sent in a saliva sample a while ago and they sequence part of the DNA and correlate it to survey data from participants.

I would like to track:

1. Weight – I would like to try the Withings wifi body scale. It tracks weight, fat mass, and BMI and transmits it via wifi.
2. Blood pressure – Withings also has a blood pressure monitor that could hook up to my iPhone.

Standard templates are not optimized for readability. A Word document has standard margins of 1″ on each side. With an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, that’s 6.5″ of text. PowerPoint is even worse. In landscape view, that is 9″ of text.

Newspapers and magazines have been working on layout for years. They use narrow columns so that the eye can quickly read down the column without losing focus. If the line is too long, the reader has to move his/her eye or head back and forth. After a few seconds, the mind loses focus. If the line is too short, then the reader has to go back and forth too much and loses the rhythm.

After little research on Google, I haven’t found any authority on the optimum width for a document. So far, it seems like 50 – 75 characters per line or about 12 words per line is the right width.

What does this mean for documents? For Word documents, set the columns to about 4 inches. That’s a one inch margin on the left and a 3.5 inch margin on the right. Use the extra space for pull outs or graphics. Alternatively, use two columns. For PowerPoint documents, don’t use the full width for text. Ideally, you wouldn’t have more than six or seven words on a slide anyways. If you absolutely need to, only use half the slide and fill the rest with a graphic.

What are your thoughts?

Most people read the newspaper, the one that’s printed on paper. The typical newspaper font size is between 8 and 9 points. A typical newspaper compresses a lot of information in a very small space. Large headlines are used to generate interest and the reader can selectively choose what he/she wants to read. Take a look at the game scores in the sports section or the financial information presented in the business section. Again, a lot of density, a lot of information in small spaces.

Yet when we produce business documents, we are compelled to use comically large font sizes to accommodate our audience. If our audience is capable of reading a newspaper, then we should compress more information into fewer pages. At higher density, people see the big picture, the flow, the structure, and can selectively choose what they want to read. They’re also forced to focus their attention on your report and really digest the information presented.

More thoughts and examples on this later.

I just got back from an Edward Tufte one day seminar yesterday. Below is just a transcription of my notebook. In the following weeks, I’ll highlight a few points. In the mean time, I suggest you attend a course if you can. It comes with four of his books. Otherwise, read them, they’re full of insightful thoughts.

• The long-term goal is to zero out the interface. It’s all about the content or subject matter.
• A good diagram should be read carefully as you would with a paragraph of words.
• Don’t pre-specify a method (e.g., don’t go in to a problem saying you’ll visualize it).
• Study maps, it uses lines, colors, words, and layers. No more putting boxes around words. It creates optical clutter.
• Supergraphics, or figures that contain many dimensions of data, allows the audience time to work with their own cognitive styles.
• Presentations should start with a high resolution data dump, a supergraphic.
• Use your own time for the audience to read your material. Don’t expect them to read it on their own time.
• Create a technical brief, rather than slides. It should be a Word document, or your preferred document editor. Hand this out ahead of time and give the audience time to read it. The presenter is then cross-examined.
• Create complete integration of information.
• Use sparklines. They can be inserted anywhere, particularly in text. Stop labeling everything figure, title, and caption. It’s just clutter.
• Don’t design to the lowest common denominator. Expect the best, not the worse, in your audience.
• Reports, graphs, and charts can have the level of complexity of the sports section in the newspaper.
• Find good examples and copy them.
• For non-fiction reports, mimic the tables in the sports section or the market data presented in newspapers. They’re proven.
• The job of the customer is not to design the product.
• Show mastery of detail. If you want clarity, add detail. It sound contrary but works.
• The point of an information display is to promote thinking.

As an analyst, I spend my days working with data, defining business requirements, calculating, pivot tables, graphs, and analytical work. With an underdeveloped right brain, I set out to figure ways to integrate my creative artistic abilities into my analytical work. It started out with a discussion with a friend over coffee about how she’s using her right brain and I’m using my left. We concluded that I should figure a creative outlet. With that, I went to Target and bought a classic Crayola 64 crayon box. It has yet to be used.

As a management consultant, I’m called upon to explain complex topics to executives and directors and to communicate results to the lay reader. My organic chemistry notes in undergrad were all pictures. I used a lot of picture to illustrate some convoluted concepts.

After stumbling upon a few websites through my regular blogs, I came across VizThink, a visual thinking community blog. After a few hours, I read all their posts and dug through each one.

• Dan Roam’s Back of the Napkin
• Dave Gray and Sunni Brown’s Gamestorming
• David Sibbet’s Visual Meetings
• Nancy Duarte’s Slide:ology and Resonate

I also ran out and bought things to help me practice my new skillset:

• Sketchbook Pro for Mac and iPad
• Wacom bamboo tablet
• Two whiteboard and two acrylic boards
• A lot of butcher paper and many sharpies

At first, my work products were terrible. My handwriting was awful and my drawings were terrible. But with all things, it just takes practice, practice, and more practice.

I’m not there yet. I’m still honing these skills.

In June, I’ll be attending Edward Tufte’s course on Presenting Data and Information. I hope to have him sign my iPad.

In September, I’m taking a course through The Grove International on Principles of Graphic Facilitation and Workplace Applications.

Are you a visual thinker or graphic facilitator? How did you get started? Who inspired yet?

Have you learned something completely outside of your field and applied it? How did you do it?

XPLANE, a Dachis Group company just posted an amazing detailed piece on the process they took to gather salary data, normalize it, then turn it into a high impact explanation graphic. I find the steps were incredibly comprehensive and thoughtful to develop just one graphic.

This is not a car blog, but I like to feature companies that go above and beyond to build a relationship with its customers. In this edition, I’m proud to say I’m a lifetime customer of Griot’s Garage. I was introduced to Griot’s from a friend who’s a huge car cleaning fanatic. In every industry, there’s always someone that specializes in a very specific area. Griot’s specializes in car care and detailing, to the extreme. If there’s a care care and cleaning need, Griot’s has it. You know they really know their business when they have a bottle of dressing designed just for the inside of the wheel well.

Social Media Case Study

Griot’s is a great example of how to use social media to build relationships. They do it one at a time and they interact with their customers. Their twitter page isn’t about selling, it’s about building relationships and sharing their expert knowledge in care car. They also have a great sense of humor.

Case in point, I posted a tweet about how much I love Griot’s speedshine. It’s a multipurpose spray for cleaning, maintaining, and making sure your car shines. It comes with an amazingly soft microfiber cloth. I use it to wipe off bird poo and for periodic upkeep in between washes and waxing.

Griot’s responded back and put together a mockup of what a barrel of speedshine would look like. I’d like mine aged five years please.

Mike later sent me an email offering to send me a gallon of speedshine to top off my bottle. Of course, now I’m a huge fan of Griot’s and only recommend their products. Nothing touches my car, nor should yours. I bought a sampler kit to try out a range of their products. So far, I’m loving the Griot’s model for the following reasons:

1. Prices are very competitive. On a per ounce basis, Griot’s products are actually more economical than most products you find at car supply shops.
2. Reusable bottles. Griot’s sells high quality bottles and spray handles, but more importantly, refill kits. This is more economical in the long run and better for the environment.
3. They know cars. I’ve been to their Tacoma Washington flagship store. It’s a car owner’s paradise. More to come in a later post.

I’m starting to gain confidence in Griot’s products. They’re pretty serious about their craft and it shows from the showroom, to their website, to their social media team.

My next investment is going to be the famous random orbital. I plan on polishing and waxing everything in sight. Let me know if you’re interested in learning more and I’ll post a set of reviews on a range of their products.

If you own the wifi model of the iPad, you’re chained to anywhere there’s wifi. Fortunately, wifi is available almost anywhere, except when you’re away from a building or on the road. The new iOS 4.3 enables wifi hotspot on your iPhone which then allows you to tether your 3G to other wifi devices like your iPad. However, it’s a switch to flip on and then its a battery draining experience.

Enter the jailbreak community. Mywi ($19.99) by Intelliborn had provide hotspot functionality before 4.3 enabled that function. The latest update also includes an On Demand function ($4.99 extra). What this does is configures bluetooth between your iPhone and iPad. When your iPad is not connected to a wifi network and you’re attempting to use the Internet, it will automatically connect to your iPhone and create a tethering setup. When you are back on a wifi network, or when you put the iPad to sleep, the connection is broken which saves your iPhone battery.

I’ve been experimenting with this function a few days now and can attest that it works beautifully. As long as I have my iPhone with me, my iPad is always ready to be connected.

The setup was a bit confusing and there weren’t very many guides out there. Here’s my take on the process.

Setting Up Your iPhone

1. Jailbreak your iPhone and install Cydia. This is the jailbreak app store.
2. Open Cydia and click on Manage Account from the Cydia home page. You can connect with either Facebook or Google. This simply ties your login with your Cydia purchases.
3. Click Search from the Cydia dock and find “MyWi”. The purchasing process uses Amazon payments to process. You’ll only have to buy this once as Cydia allows up to three copies on three devices.
4. Open MyWi, from the home screen, click on iDevices. Choose MyWi OnDemand. This will initiate an in-app purchase for the OnDemand license for $4.99.

Setting Up Your iPad

1. Follow the same steps above to jailbreak your iPad and install Cydia.
2. In Cydia, use your Facebook or Google account to log in. You should now be able to download MyWi without paying for it again.
3. Open MyWi and follow the same procedures to install the OnDemand license. Instead of buying, click download license.

Creating the Connection

1. Open MyWi on both your iPhone and your iPad.
2. Click on iDevices and then OnDemand. Click Setup MyWi OnDemand. Your iPhone should say waiting for ondemand clients.
3. Open up MyWi on your iPad and then click on OnDemand. Click Setup Mywi OnDemand.
4. Your iPhone name should show up. Click on that.
5. A notification should show up on your iPhone called OnDemand Request. Click accept.
6. You are done

Using OnDemand

With most installations, I do suggest you restart both devices. You can do so by holding down the home button and the sleep button until it powers down and then powers up again. Carry your iPhone with you and turn off wifi on your iPad. Open up Safari and try opening up a webpage. It should take a few seconds and you’ll see the bluetooth logo light up on your iPad and the page should load. Make sure you have bluetooth turned on in your settings for both the iPhone and iPad.

Watch the YouTube video that shows the click through steps as well.