Column Five Media
Have you ever wondered where all of the amazing infographics you encountered in magazines or on the web come from? Most likely, many of them were created by an agency named ColumnFive.
Founded in 2008, ColumnFive has specialized in data visualization, infographics and  visual content strategy. The agency has worked for clients like Nike, Red Bull, Deloitte and the World Bank as well as for several educational institutions, healthcare and government. Their quite broad range of clients shows that what makes their work so special is not a focus on a certain field of business, but a unique approach to data visualization. While there are huge amounts of data being generated every second, they can only be deployed insofar as we manage to make sense out of them. With their well-designed, clear but witty visualizations ColumnFive manages to make large amounts of information accessible by transforming complex data sets into infographics or motion graphics. Thereby they follow the storytelling approach, trying to create even out of the most abstract data lively visualizations. These, in turn, are deployed by brands for digital PR, presentations, dashboard design or simply to illustrate their annual reports. They also develop interactive infographics which focus on user experience, guiding the user through multiple layers of data and leading him or her to insights about the subject at stake. Where reading about the same subject would probably account for several hours, infographics offer an intuitive approach to revealing and creating meaning.
The core team of the agency now consists out of 40 persons, who are "sailors, philosophers, karaoke masters, professional gamers, nomads, DJs, authors, yogis, culinary artisans, sneakerheads, former anthropologists and future astronauts" according to the agency itself. They have two offices in California and in New York. In the meantime, their business is not limited to the creation of visual content. They also offer a web service for data visualization with which you can create your own infographics and which can be tested for free. Finally, they publish also books and host a blog which is highly recommendable!
