Viz Roundup: Endangered Animals, Baby Names, & Austin's Startups
Endangered Safari
RJ Andrews of Info We Trust illustrated the population stability and endangered status of large African mammals. Animals facing left are decreasing in population whereas animals facing right are stable or increasing. RJ's use of color emphasizes the most crucial information while his use of shape and placement make this visualization delightful to look at.
Chicago Crime Scene
Tableau Picasso George Gorczynski visualized crime in Chicago in this innovative and highly-designed Story Points visualization. George set the tone with a gruesome color scheme, and included enriching elements like an embedded Twitter feed that reports Chicago homicides. With a map of hot spots and crime trend charts, George made a winning viz that is both beautiful and digestible.

Startup Activity in Austin
Austin, Texas has overtaken Silicon Valley as the number one city for startups, according to the Kauffman Index. This viz by Kauffman shows why Austin is such a great place for startups. It tracks Silicon Valley-tinged metrics like Rate of New Entrepreneurs and Startup Density. (This viz was originally published in the Austin Business Journal.)

Little Waves of Baby Names
Shine Pulikathara took a stab at the SSA Baby Names database with this visualization that filters down to the top 20 names based on the parameters you choose. Shine's use of small multiple area charts allows the user to quickly compare different frequencies between names. Plus his color scheme is adorable.
