information aesthetics.
a dynamic visualization of an email inbox, based on the metaphor of microbes. all emails are categorized in 6 person groups: family and friends, school, job, e-commerce, unclassified, & spam.
an animal conveys the condition of an email message: the age of an email is shown by the size & opacity of the animal. the status of an email (i.e. unread, read, responded) is shown by the number of hair/feet & velocity. users can select messages & group them by different attributes, such as sender, status or time.
[link: carohorn.de & carohorn.de (mov)]
see also email thread & email mountain.
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Email visualizations? Are we going to see a infosthetics post on 3D Mailbox anytime soon? ;)
is that a rhetoric question, Greg?
Yes!
I'd be worried about infosthetics if it was plugging that strange app, although it would be interesting to hear your perspectives on tattooed obese men that are representative on individual pieces of spam.
I think being 'plugged' on infosthetics does not necessarily correspond to a level of quality. instead, it means some degree of originality.
I then want to leave it open to the readers' comments to criticize (in a constructive fashion).
the anymails visualization of this post, for instance, shows a high degree of visual sophistication & detail, with a nice sense of playfulness & humor. it is open for discussion whether it is usable or not, but that was not the original purpose of this work anyway.
would you agree?
Perhaps I should have chose my words more wisely. I know you do much more than "plug" visualizations and yes, originality is very important considering how much work in infographics and visualization there is being done right now. It was unfair of me to talk about that 3D mail app, with this stimulating project right in front of my eyes. Which by the way, I really enjoy. It reminds me of flow - inbox as a petry dish.
Don't worry I'm not a usability grump by any means. So keep em' coming Andrew. :)