Notebook
Here's where we post periodic updates on what we've been up to at Fathom. Reflections on the interesting stories that emerge from our client work, side projects, after-hours rabbitholes, and other miscellaneous threads of inquiry.
The Test Kitchen — a lesser known branch of the Fathom family — was established earlier this year in an attempt to explore the relationships between two of our favorite things: data and food. Inspired by a recent speaking engagement of Ben's, at which the organizers set up a coffee bar called the Data Vis Café, we spent the last few weeks contemplating what sort of things our coffee could (or would!) say to us if given the chance.
The scene from Beacon Hill on Friday, where an unnamed Fathom staffer prepared for his departure from Earth (while also calibrating some computer vision code).
We gave a previous web design project a face-lift earlier this year — a rare luxury amid the rapid pace of design work these days. Since creating the site last year, GE has been amassing an inspiring collection of data visualization projects on their Making Data Work blog, and the expanding volume called for a slight update in layout and architecture.
When I was forced asked to write a blog post, naturally I did what anyone would do when looking for inspiration: I went home, opened a beer and started streaming old episodes of MacGyver. There is something truly marvelous about combining a few simple household items and getting yourself out of a near-death situation. As MacGyver put it himself,
We just launched TriTrack, a tool for triathlon training, on the behalf of GE and British Triathlon Elite Team Partner.
While building Stats of the Union, we went through a large heap of sketches. Some were mistakes. Others looked good, but didn't do the job. While a favorite design can be worthy of endless defense, more often—killing is key.
Mac Slocum, managing editor of O'Reilly Media interviewed Ben at the Where 2.0 conference.
Ben and Casey Reas made an art piece called “Signals” for building 76 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT):
Stats of the Union, our first iPad app, is built for GE as a tool to look at health stories in America.
Mark Schifferli, the latest addition to the Fathom team, turns out to be a two for the price of one hire. We were completely awestruck by the interests, style and aesthetic sensibility of Mark's six-year-old daughter. It's all we need to see. She's hired too.