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<div align="center"><a href="http://submitinfographics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/American_family_finance_statistics.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://submitinfographics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/American_family_finance_statistics.jpg" alt="infographic" width="430"><br /> Click to Enlarge </a><br />Via <a href="http://www.fastloantree.com/blog/american-family-finance-statistics/"> FastLoanTree.com </a><br />View Other <a href="http://www.submitinfographics.com">Infographics</a></div> <p>

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While there are a lot of numbers here, there are only 3 instances of visualized data, all grouped together at the end of the IG. For the rest of the statistics, the numbers are simply written out without any visual accompaniment. A bar graph could be utilized for many of the top stats, to show the average household income relative to average savings, credit card debt, home value etc. It’d be interesting to see how debt compares to savings, for example. Then as for the percentages, a simple pie chart or pictogram (both are utilized later in the infographic) would help illustrate the proportions.

Since the infographic leads off with a list of numbers that aren’t visualized, it isn’t particularly engaging from the start. Beginning with data viz would be a good way to draw the viewer in to hang on for the rest of the information, if you weren’t planning on visualizing the rest of it for some reason.

I’d also like to see an introduction and conclusion. This infographic launches into a list of numbers, and then ends promptly with a logo. There are no section headings, either, so we end up with a set of random facts that lack a storyline. Infographics should tell a story, rather than just collecting assorted facts.

In all I’d give this infographic a C-. It could use organization, a storyline, and increased visualization to create a great infographic.

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This looks nice and has some good information, and the overall design and color scheme is put together well. Although this looks nice, there is basically nothing about this that qualifies it as an infographic, so I give it a D-. There is no data visualization here. It is all text presented in colorful boxes that give the illusion of this being an infographic. The only part that has remotely any data visualization is the bar that shows a monthly payment breakdown. All I can suggest to improve this is to completely re-design it; as it is I would say it is about 50 percent of an infographic because the information is there, but the graphics are not.

The viewers of this have to read everything to get the data, and although the design is easy on the eye, none of the data is represented visually. A mortgage payment is a very technical topic for an infographic, so I realize it is hard to represent all of the data with graphics. But since there are lots of numbers and percentages involved, there could at least be some graphs or pie charts on here to compare some of the data visually. There should be some images to go along with captions, too. For example, there could be a picture of a house with a dollar sign on it next to the part that says “price of home”. The bottom part about PMI would be much more effective if the numbers were presented all together in a line graph, so that viewers could compare actual costs of a home for the different PMI percentages.

All in all this looks nice and has a lot of good information, but it needs a whole lot more data visualization to be considered a good infographic.

Occupy George aims to circulate these bills through the economy, friends and Occupy Wall Street protests throughout the country as a metaphor for the unattainable currency of the rich versus the common currency of the 99%. Their efforts have brought infographics to the forefront of the news at a time when IGs are becoming ever more popular. People who didn’t even reside in the United States were e-mailing the pair, wanting to purchase the stamps. (Andy and Ivan won’t sell them, presumably because the whole movement is about monetary concerns anyway.) But now they’re asking for the public’s help in spreading the message.

“What started out in a one-bedroom apartment quickly spread, reaching millions of people not just at home but overseas,” they wrote in the Huffington Post. “Suddenly, two guys who wouldn’t categorize themselves as radical activists had somehow thrown themselves into the middle of a dialogue about the future of this country.”

As quickly as they became overwhelmed with support and media attention, the tide of the news has begun to carry Occupy George back out to sea. Ivan and Andy want the messages put forth by Occupy Wall Street to function like open-source networking–requiring collaboration and not placing privilege on any one group over anyone else. Whether through the distribution of Occupy George’s infographics, which are available online at no cost (with printing instructions), or other artistic modes of expression, they want to see the movement continue.

So, if you’re a participant in Occupy Wall Street–or maybe a quiet sideline supporter–you might be curious if Occupy George is legal. (By the same token, you might not care at all, but just in case you do…) There can be some fuzziness in the understanding of United States law regarding the destruction of American symbols like flags and currency. Some Occupy Wall Street protesters have been ripping, burning and otherwise desecrating American flags. That’s no longer illegal (but many feel strongly that it’s immoral). What about Occupy George? Is covering United States currency in images and ink illegal?

Title 18, Section 333 of the United States Code, reads,

“[W]hoever mutilates, cuts, disfigures, perforates, unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, Federal Reserve Bank, or Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued, shall be fined not more than $100 or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.”

Okay, that sounds a little intimidating, but look at the language: “with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued.” The Occupy George movement is pushing for the distribution of these bills–how would the data contained in the infographics be spread in physical form if the money weren’t recirculated? As long as the money isn’t damaged to the point of uselessness, Occupy George is perfectly legal.

Printing on or stamping dollar bills isn’t anything new–remember the “Where’s George” experiment? It’s another creative example of employing national currency for experimentation within our legal rights. While Where’s George didn’t have anything to do with infographics, it did inspire some,and there’s plenty of available statistics about it.

If you’re feeling uninspired or too small to invoke a change in something you feel passionately about, Ivan and Andy want to remind you that you can make anything possible.

“We’re just two semi-delusional dudes that followed through on a nutty idea.”