James Johnson | Beyond 2060 | Information and data visualization, digital alchemy
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Info design
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Posts
Tree of knowledge image
drawings
creativity
I started this by using a compass and ruler to reproduce some sacred geometry, inspired by images in The Secret Teachings Of All Ages (1928) by Manly P. Hall.
Apr 26, 2024
The Art of Explanation by Ros Atkins summary
books
information visualization
Visual notes from the book
The Art of Explanation
by Ros Atkins.
Apr 11, 2024
My seal
drawings
creativity
King Charles has seals for his projects. In fact he’s gone a bit seal mad, having had three designed about a year, all designed by Jonathan Ive’s LoveFrom design agency. You…
Mar 14, 2024
We need to talk about your information diet
life
study
essay
visual essay
Download a PDF version of this essay for classroom use.
Feb 23, 2024
Marriage of Heaven and Hell image
creativity
I started this image many months ago. The inspiration for this work comes from many sources, including Italian Renaissance magic and William Blake. I inked the stems and…
Feb 21, 2024
What is the perfect layout in the age of screens?
visual essay
essay
info design
The history of book design is fascinating. Page layout has developed slowly over centuries of refinement. But what is the perfect layout in the age of screens? Landscape…
Feb 15, 2024
William Blake timeline - information visualization experiment
creativity
drawings
william blake
information visualization
I’m a huge fan of William Blake. As an information visualization experiment I decided the make the timeline below. My original intention was to make all the images in the…
Feb 2, 2024
Making neat notes whilst standing up
visual essay
essay
info design
I like to take neat notes. If I don’t concentrate when making notes they are terribly messy and worthy only of the bin. Making neat notes is satisfying and an end in itself…
Jan 26, 2024
Meetup groups
public speaking
I’ve been running Meetup groups for about ten years. It’s an important part of my study process. I currently run these two meetup groups:
Jan 24, 2024
Uncle Lubin - experiments with colour palettes
creativity
drawings
I’m a big fan of the
ligne claire
1
illustration style, which is basically clear strong lines filled with flat colour. I am also a fan of the eccentric drawings of Heath…
Jan 24, 2024
Gods of the visual essay
visual essay
essay
info design
I enjoy explaining things. There’s an incredible sense of satisfaction that comes from taking a complicated idea and simplifying it into easily digestible bits that anyone…
Nov 29, 2023
Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Magic
public speaking
video
esoteric
I run a discussion meetup group here in Barcelona. Every few weeks I (or one of the group members) talks about something that interests them. In this video I run through a…
Nov 9, 2023
Fungus collected in Cataluña
fungi
photography
These are photographs I’ve taken of fungi over the years in various places in Cataluña.
Jun 7, 2023
How I finally got the habit of productive note taking
essay
productivity
For many years I tried to get the habit of regular note taking, but it was only once I started to write research notes for clients that I understood how to do it properly.
May 17, 2023
AI is coming for your job
ai
visual essay
essay
The news has been full of it lately - Artificial Intelligence is coming for your job
1
! Within a few years, Artificial Intelligence is going to make you unemployed, and…
May 10, 2023
The Moral Machine - Could AI Outshine Us in Ethical Decision-Making?
ai
ethics
visual essay
essay
There has been a lot of hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth about the dangers of AI. Artificial Intelligence is going to be the end of us all, apparently. But is this…
May 5, 2023
Discussion about Swarm Intelligence
public speaking
video
ai
A discussion between Gonzalo Guarner and myself about Swarm Intelligence — from what it is to terraforming Mars with nano bots. We talk about metaheuristics, John von…
Mar 30, 2023
Notes from the course Neural Networks and Deep Learning
ai
deep learning
study notes
The title graphic for this page I created with Stable Diffusion, using the text as a prompt which included
illustrations by santiago ramon y cajal.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal was…
Mar 29, 2023
How I improved my digital handwriting
visual essay
essay
info design
Writing by hand has been demonstrated to have a positive effect both on learning/memorization and achieving goals. And so earlier this year I started to take handwritten…
Mar 1, 2023
Image tests: format and size
info design
When I did these experiments I didn’t include the
webp
format, which may be a better one than any of these. More experiments needed.
Feb 16, 2023
More experiments with Stable Diffusion
creativity
ai
Stable Diffusion V2 was released this week (Dec ’22), so I decided to do some experimentation with it. To do this I used the ImaginAIry Python code by Bryce Drennan. I also…
Dec 30, 2022
Experiments with Stable Diffusion
ai
creativity
I created these images using the Stability Photoshop Plugin by the wonderful Christian Cantrell, with images generated utilizing the Dreamstudio service. It’s a paid-for…
Dec 3, 2022
Drunk Schrödinger cartoons
creativity
history
science
1
What is Life? article on wikipedia
Jun 1, 2022
Kepler’s Somnium
creativity
history
science
essay
visual essay
The astronomer and astrologer Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630) wrote one of the very first science fiction novels, and the book caused his mother to be tried for witchcraft.…
Jun 1, 2022
William Blake postcards
william blake
creativity
I’m a huge fan of William Blake. He was a crazy genius. These postcard sized images are inspired by quotes from his work The marriage of Heaven and Hell. The second two are…
Mar 29, 2022
Paradise Lost cartoons
paradise lost
creativity
essay
visual essay
information visualization
A few years ago I got a bit obsessed by Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost is a difficult work to read. It starts like this:
Mar 7, 2022
Abiogenesis pictures
creativity
drawings
Some little drawings I did around the concept of abiogenesis, using a fiber-tip pen and coloured pencils.
Jan 16, 2022
The Medici family tree
history
info design
information visualization
essay
visual essay
The Medici were a powerful banking family during the Italian Renaissance. Their influence spanned a couple of centuries, and they produced four Catholic Popes. They were…
Dec 20, 2021
Information visualization notes
study notes
info design
information visualization
Advanced techniques from the Coursera course by Enrico Bertini of NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Dec 20, 2021
Information visualization: visualizing temporal data
study notes
info design
information visualization
Visualizing temporal data from the Coursera course by Enrico Bertini of NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Dec 20, 2021
Information visualization notes: visualizing network data
study notes
info design
information visualization
Visualizing network data from the Coursera course by Enrico Bertini of NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Dec 20, 2021
Information visualization: interactive and multiple views
study notes
info design
information visualization
Visualizing interactive and multiple views from the Coursera course by Enrico Bertini of NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Dec 20, 2021
Introduction to Psychological Sciences lecture 3
psychology
science
study notes
These are my visual notes, created on the iPad using the Concepts app, for Steven Pinker’s PSY 1 Introduction to Psychological Sciences course
1
. It’s a great course. I only…
Jun 1, 2021
Introduction to Psychological Sciences lecture 2
psychology
science
study notes
These are my visual notes, created on the iPad using the Concepts app, for Steven Pinker’s PSY 1 Introduction to Psychological Sciences course
1
. It’s a great course. I only…
Jun 1, 2021
Notes on Pinker: Introduction to Psychological Sciences
psychology
science
study notes
These are my visual notes, created on the iPad using the Concepts app, for Steven Pinker’s PSY 1 Introduction to Psychological Sciences course
1
. It’s a great course. I only…
Jun 1, 2021
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