The first bits of coolness around SXSW Interactive 2010: a baby graphic giving some insight into the contents of our Visual Notetaking Panel. The panel, Visual Notetaking 101, is on Monday, March 15 at 3:30 pm, so join us for a conversation on how to stop taking notes that look like punishment. I’m joined on the panel by my co-author Dave Gray, and by sketchnote masters Mike Rohde and Austin Kleon. Visual thinkers, come out of the closet. And be rewarded with excellent content when you do.

As I mentioned to my client Todd Zaki Warfel of Messagefirst, I am exceptionally proud of this NYU Study Abroad infographic. It took a sizable amount of production time and brain power, and were it not for the acumen of my stellar design team (and the teamwork and cooperation of Messagefirst), this poster-sized piece would have never seen the light of day. So, a colossal thank you to Cameron Ewing, a stupendous illustrator and designer, and Chet Hornung, an uncannily savvy data geek. Together we were the Holy Grail of information design and data management. And thank you, Jamie Thompson and Todd, for your faith in BrightSpot i.d. and for a project that shifted our boundaries of what’s possible.

As many of you know, Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos) is preoccupied with the pursuit of a little thing called happiness. He studies it, he gives presentations about it, and he successfully incorporates it into Zappos’ best practices for corporate culture. Since I met Tony, Alfred Lin and Brian Kalma at SXSW 2009, I’ve had the privilege of working with Zappos on various visual-thinking-related projects. The latest, what you see above, was a design project to create images for Tony’s forthcoming book, ‘Delivering Happiness.’ The specific graphics above won’t appear in the book – the project had to be handed to another illustrator because I was on my own sadistic book deadline – but they were used as a creative catalyst for the images that will be published. I’ve processed the emotional letdown by shaking my fist at God. I think I’ll be fine – especially after I read a good book on happiness.

CLIENT: Internal

NEED: A complex-pattern infographic that documents the products and services my company offers.

OUTCOME: Cluster/affinity diagram that I now know I need to simplify. It’s all about learning through the process.