Stag and Hen Trends 2011

The UK calls them Stag and Hen parties.  Here, we call them Bachelor and Bachelorette parties.  So, Redseven, the leading hen and stag company, put together this infographic to show the trends on hen and stag parties in the UK.

Most Popular Locations

In the UK, hens favor London and stags favor Bournemouth.  Overseas, hens favor Marbella and stags favor Riga.

Biggest Expense

Booze.  No big shocker there.  Stags spend more money all around, but the food to booze ratio is smaller for hens than it it is for stags.

Surprise?

Hens like suprises.  44% of hen parties keep the destination secret, while only 14% of stag parties keep the destination a secret.

Fancy Dress

Hens spend more on fancy dress and gifts than stags.

Who is In Control?

15% of stags organized their own weekends, while 25% of hens controlled their own.

Flirting?

39% of stag parties admitted to flirting on their stag weekend, while 8.6% of stags admitted to some kissing.  21% of hen parties admitted to flirting, and 4.6% of hens admitted to kissing.  Shame.

Celebrity

When asked which celebrity stag or hen party they wished they’d attended, 34% of surveyed stags said Wayne Rooney and 62% of hens said Coleen Rooney.  The Rooneys, apparently, are very popular.

Scorecard

Design: B+

The black, white and red is striking, and the images are clean.

Information:  B+

It’s nice to know what they’re doing on the other side of the pond.

Source: Stag weekends by Redseven.

Holiday Tipping Infographic

Ah, the holidays.  Wait, have we said that before?  This infographic, created by New Yorkers, gives you an idea of how much you should tip certain people for the holidays.  Granted, in New York there are a lot of people to tip, but I’m betting that people in many different towns and cities have helpers they need to tip, and this guide gives you a good idea.  And, if you’re like me and too poor to have a housekeeper, handyman, etc., at least you know how much you’re saving by not having to tip those nonexistent people in your life.  But I digress…

What to Tip?

Your superintendent or resident manager should get on average $75 to $175 for the holiday tip.  Tip your doorman anywhere from $25 to $150.  For the porter or handyman, $20 to $30 should supposedly suffice, though I wonder if I care more about the guy who takes my rent check every month or the guy who came out at 2 AM to fix my dishwasher.  The garage attendant is supposed to get $25 to $75.  As for domestic helpers, a nanny should get a week’s salary as a Christmas tip, a babysitter should get the equivalent of an evening’s pay, and the housekeeper should also get a week’s salary.

Your newspaper carrier should get $5 to $15 dollars.  Your hairdresser should get $25 to $100 (I guess depending on how your hair looks that day…), your manicurist should get $10 to $50, and the dog walker should get a week’s salary.  Dog walker?  Really?

When to Tip

It is acceptable to give out your holiday tips anytime in December through February, but most people give their cash gifts, aka tips, in the weeks before Christmas.

Unusual Gifts

Some people decide to give gifts that aren’t cash.  Some strange gifts that have been given to doormen include perfume, a used car, a smoking jacket, and some CDs, and other people have given baked goods, wine or champagne, or cuff links.

100 Year’s Perspective

This is an interesting chart that shows the dollar equivalents between tips in 1911 and 2011.  For instance, $3.00 to the maid in 1911 comes out to $68.75 today.  Check out the chart for more dollar equivalents.

Scorecard

Design:  B-

It’s kind of fuzzy, and I’m not crazy about the graphics or the colors used.

Information:  A-

Good information, if you need to know how much to tip the people who make your day to day life easier for you.

Source: Holiday Tipping Infographic presented by apartment rental reviews site Rentenna.com, with thanks to the BrickUnderground 2011 Holiday Tipping Guide.

Related articles

• Christmas Shopping Tips For Beginners (bestforbeginners.com)

Funeral Costs Infographic

Not a happy topic, but something everyone needs to know about.  This infographic gives you the costs of funerals depending on the country.  We’re given costs for Russian, Spain, Germany, the U.S., Great Britain, and China.

Russia

A funeral costs £520 (US $830) but you’re hard-pressed to find a burial plot in Moscow.  There are so few available that they are only reserved for major politicians and “mafia.”

Spain

£2520 (3000 Euros) will get you a funeral, and you can get one from a mobile undertaker in Northern Spain.  The mobile undertaker even offers a “Chapel of Rest” and a “wakes” room.

Germany

After the 500 Euros the German government pays out to each family paying for a funeral, the cost is £3530, or 4200 Euros.

USA

With the average coffin running around $3000, everything all put together costs $13500 for a typical American funeral.  That’s £8500 if you’re wondering.

Great Britain

Right now, it costs about £2860 for a funeral, but by 2015 it will cost £3500 because of inflation.

China

A funeral only costs 15000 Yuan, or £1260, but the government has put the kibosh on the tomb-futures market, which means burial land is limited.

Scorecard

Design:  B

It’s pretty Halloween-y, but that’s better than it looking like the inside of a funeral parlor or something.

Information:  A

It’s stunning to see how expensive a funeral is in the U.S., compared to other countries.

Source:  Funeral Costs Infographic

Risk Factors for Acquiring an STD

Sometimes it can be easy to overlook the dangers of unprotected sex when we are bombarded with images on television and movies that tell us sex is free and fun and safe for all. Well, that’s Hollywood and fantasy. The truth is that sex and be dangerous and life-threatening if you aren’t careful.

Why You’re an STD Risk infographic does a good job at giving this sobering information in a fun to read and easy to digest format. But don’t let the cute pictures of viruses fool you, these sexually transmitted diseases are seriously bad for your health and your love life.

Before examine your sex life, take a look at the different topics covered here: Top Risk Factors for Acquiring an STD, What Diseases are out there, Most Common STDs in Men, Most Common STDs for Women, Most Common STDS through Non-sexual Contact, Top 5 Countries with the highest rate of STD (Congrats, India!) and some other facts about STDs, such as one in four new STD infections occur in teenagers. Keep it in your pants, young folks!

Via: Health Testing Centers

The Influential Power of Print Infographic

For as long as man has been able to put pen to paper, the exchange of text and imagery between people has enabled knowledge to be spread throughout societies. As the technology of print has evolved, so has the speed at which information can be shared.

Today, it’s hard to picture our lives without the medium of print. It is behind the foundational aspect of our social fibre – religion, science, theory, technology and even money. From the birth of the bible, to the use of propaganda in World War II and the most inspiring novels of our time, this infographic looks how print has influenced and shaped society throughout history.

Source:

Infographic by PrinterInks,
hosted on Business Insider

Doodle Space Infographic

The infographic you’ll see when you  go to the full Doodlespace was created to provide creative inspiration for people looking for it in regards to branding, advertising, and other subjects. It searches the Twitter API for terms, and that is what populates the little “idea clouds” you see. What you see above is a static picture of the piece, but if you Have fun. It’s mesmerizing.   I personally didn’t draw inspiration from the tweet that talked about how today was a good day to go back to bed (except for now I’m thinking it’s a good time to go back to bed), but as more ideas are pulled through the Doodlespace, more ideas will be available to you.  So you can check back for more.

Some random things I saw while I stared at the Doodlespace for a while:

-Busted out an old season of Scrubs #greatidea
-Trying to talk Kinny into getting on Twitter #greatidea #everyoneagrees
- Thinking like a parent, #goodidea #bro
- So I’m thinking about growing a bear…@goodidea ??

So, I guess it will take the thought leaders a while to jump on the bandwagon, but if you want your tweets to be heard in this cool little cloud, use the hashtags #goodidea or #greatidea and check back often.

Design:  A

Very, very creative.

Information:  ?

It’s too soon to tell.  But the idea is an A+

Source:  Ideas by Net

Where are All the Good Single Black Men Infographic

This infographic sets out to show the statistics on dating for black women who want to date black men.  They start out by looking at simple criteria, then drill down to more specific criteria that is based on what women are looking for when they look for a man.  Let’s take a look.

I Want a Black Man

This section tells us that for every 100 black women, there are 87 black men.  That’s about 450 million women to 139 million men.  The informational bit is in the middle, and on each side there are little tally people who represent the men and women.  This one starts out with 100 women on one side, and 87 men on the other.  So, to qualify for this category, a guy’s just got to be black, so there are 87 qualifying black men for every 100 available black women.

I Want a Straight Black Man

This section narrows it down further, and adds the qualifier that the available black women want a man who likes women, and not other men.  So, of the 87 qualifying black men from the last category, we take off 2, because 4% of the guys are homosexual, but only 2% of the women are, which leaves 2% we have to take off the total of qualifying black men, leaving us with 85 qualifying black men for every 100 available black women.

I Want a Black Man Who Likes Black Women

The data tells us that 70% of interracial relationships are between black men and white women, and that 8.5% of all eligible black men are married to white women, dropping our qualifying black man group down to 78.

I Want a Man Who Has Not Been In Jail

The data says that about 30% of black men go to jail at some point in their lives.  That brings us to 54 qualifying black men for every 100 available black women.

I Want a Man Who Has a High School Diploma

82.1% of black males over the age of 18 have at least their high school diploma or GED.  Which means that the number drops down to 44 qualifying black men for every 100 available black women.

I Want a Man Who Has A Job

This economy is rough, and 35% of black men are unemployed.  That brings the number down to 29 qualifying black men for every 100 available black women.

I Want a Man Who Makes Enough Money

For this, they looked at men who make at least 30K per year.  That’s about 22% of black men, bringing the number down to 7 qualifying black men for every 100 available black women.

I Want a Man Who Looks Good and Is in Shape

The numbers tell us that 24% of black men are obese.  That brings us to 5 qualifying black men for every 100 available black women.

I Want a Man Without Kids

The final category – no Baby Mamas.  The numbers say 1/3 of single black men have children with another woman.  That brings us to a whopping 3 qualifying black men for every 100 available black women.

The summary at the bottom states that if you are looking for a man who is black, heterosexual, attracted to black women, educated, makes enough money, has never been to jail, is not fat, and who does not have kids with any other women, you are going to be looking hard.  It’s hard to find a good man.

Luckily, the source for this infographic is bestblackdatingsites.org – Your source for the Best Black Dating Sites

Design: A

The visual trick of the tally of women to men on either side of the data was a very effective thing.

Information: A

Very informative and well-researched.

Affluence and Travel

This infographic is  about affluent people and how and where they travel.   I had no idea what an “HNWI” was, but looked further down the infographic and learned that “HNWIs” are “High Net Worth Individuals.”   Below, there is a map of the world with a key – HNWI’s are people who are worth more than a million dollars, and Ultra-HNWIs are people who are worth more than $30 million.  According to the map, these people reside in certain regions of the world, and the percentages mean the % of HNWI and Ultra-HWNIs in each country vs. the regular people.

The next section breaks down these high affluence people by country. The U.S. has the most rich people.  Unless you’re very familiar with the flags of different countries, you may not be able to sort out where the other rich people live.

Travel Trends

Here we go.  Now is the section where they talk about what the affluent people do on vacation.  From a poll of wealthy people, the top 5 trends were listed in this section, according to the creator of the infographic.  The percentage numbers represent the number of times the activity appeared in the top five choices.  Apparently, 63% of people engage in family and multi-generational travel, 41.3% go on luxury cruises (no word on how many go as families), 33.2% go on adventure trips, 22.1 go on guided tours, and 19.2% stay in beach resorts.

Use of Mobile Media

We’re then given some pie charts that talk about how many luxury travel bookings occur online (55%), how many HNWI use Facebook and other social media sites (they make social media all one word, and the number is 70%), and how many wealthy Americans download travel apps (it’s 40%).

Destinations

The first map was where people lived, and now we get where they travel.  The map is broken down with bubbles that show where people go in summer and in winter, and there are no percentages.  We just see that Costa Rica, Argentina, Italy, England, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand are visited almost exclusively in summer, and Whistler, Colorado, Hawaii, Switzerland, Mauritius, Maldives, and Thailand are visited almost exclusively in winter.  The Caribbean, Mexico, France, and South Africa  are visited in summer and winter.

Luxury Travel Products

They then give us a list of the most expensive luxury travel products.  Most are given in US dollar amounts, but one is given Euros.  Did you know you could rent Necker Island (owned by Richard Branson) for $51,000 per day?

Design:  A

The infographic is visually attractive, the colors are nice, and the typeface is easy to read and pretty.  It’s an exciting concept, because we all like to think about what we’d do with tons and tons of money.

Information:  C

There are a few small typos and the information provided is not explicitly explained, but it is interesting information and  the social media section is good.  Plus, everyone likes to see how the other half lives.

VIA:  luxury vacation rentals at Paradizo

Combating Mass Incarceration Infographic

This infographic starts off with a shocking fact – that the U.S. has 25% of the world’s prison population, but only 5% of the world population.  That’s sort of mind-boggling, when you stop to think about it.  We recently posted an infographic on innocent people who were imprisoned, and then released because DNA evidence proved their innocence.  How many of that 25% of the world’s prison population is potentially innocent?  What are the costs associated with keeping so many people in prison?  That question and more are addressed in this infogrpahic, described by the creator as such:

“The war on drugs has helped make the U.S. the world’s largest incarcerator, but our addiction to incarceration is unfair, costs too much and doesn’t make us safer.”  This leads one to believe that the creator of the infographic does not believe that drug offenders should be imprisoned, which is definitely debatable, as some consequence needs to occur to help keep drugs off the street.  What are the right answers?  What’s a country to do?  But I digress…

Violent or Nonviolent?

One fourth of the infographic is taken up by a picture of a prison with blue and red bars.  The blue bars indicate the nonviolent offenders, the red ones indicate the violent offenders.  Visually, this image is not very effective, and the information that half of the inhabitants of state prisons are “locked up” for nonviolent offenses is presented in such a way that the reader sees the creator’s bias – obviously the person who compiled and presented this data feels that nonviolent offenses are, by and large, nothing people should be “locked up” for.  Rather than persuading the audience, as more data might do, one is left with a feeling that all the data to come will be biased and therefore, not completely reliable.

The Cost

The next section talks about spending – that by 2007, “states spent more than $44 billion on incarceration and related expenses, a 127% jump from 1987″ and then states the spend on higher education has rose only by 21%.  These statistics are taken from a report by The PEW Charitable trusts, which is supposed to be a non-partisan, objective, and non-ideological organization, so it is safe to assume the numbers are right, however even the source information uses the term “behind bars” as a way to emphasize the severity of the situation.  This makes even the source information seem biased, and at a glance it looks like the source document talks about the cost of prisons in the United States.  While this is an important topic, one cannot help but think about all the information that is left out of the infographic.  The numbers are there, but is the reader supposed to be shocked and dismayed by the number of people in prison and the cost to keep them there in that they want less incarceration?  If so, what solutions does this infographic offer in regards to reducing crime and what does it do to offer an alternate solution to incarceration?

Some Statistics

A ball and chain graphic shows the data that while the United States saw a 44% increase in population overall from 1970 to 2008, that the prison population growth rate is 700% during that same time period.  We’re told that this “outpaces” crime rates, but I find this confusing.  If the crime rates are not as high as the prison population growth, is the implied message that innocent people are being incarcerated?  With some blocks of stick figures, we’re given some demographic information, that 1 in 106 white males 18 or older is in prison, 1 in 36 Hispanic males 18 or older is in prison, and that 1 in 15 black males 18 or older is imprisoned.  At a glance, this looks terrible – that so many more black men and Hispanic men are imprisoned than white men, but the supporting data that would show the cause for incarceration is missing.  Though the creator of the infographic went to the trouble of drawing a line between violent and nonviolent offenders, the demographic information does not draw in that data regarding the percentages of each demographic incarcerated for violent vs. nonviolent crimes, and though the description provided says something about the war on drugs, drugs are not explicitly mentioned anywhere in the infographic.

Design:  B

The graphics and typefaces are fine.  Perhaps the prison graphic takes up too much space, but the colors used are appropriate and the images tell a story.  The supporting data does not.

Information:  D

This infographic gives facts without context, which shows bias.  Bias shows a certain vulnerability regarding factual accuracy, and the point of this infographic is lost.  The way the information is presented, and how one piece of information is disconnected from the other does a great disservice to the message this piece was supposed to send.

VIA:  mass incarceration

High Street Shops – Rise and Fall Infographic

Britain’s High Street may have been hit by the recession, however this information-heavy infographic throws up some surprising tidbits on my fellow countrymen’s shopping habits. Before I get into the nitty gritty, I’ll confess I’m a Brit, though I now live in the US. I was born and raised ‘Oop Northe, but exported myself to the lager-drinking ‘Sarf and raised some Essex boys and girls. With that off my chest, I can throw my mud without fear of the cries of rampant, regional prejudice.

Initial Reaction

I didn’t like it.

Pastel shades turn me off: you are supposed to be portraying information in a concise and attention grabbing fashion, so why use sickly shadow coloring? Be like the SAS (British Special Forces), whose motto is “He Who Dares Wins”, but this piece scored high on the wimp-o-meter with poor attention-grabbing power.

The interaction between the data bars for 2008 and 2010 underlined my initial lack of confidence. Indeed, I thought it looked suspiciously like a first, faded draft of a truncated London Underground tube map sans station names.

Information Reaction

When I started to look deeper into the information portrayed, I felt myself getting hooked. This kind of thing always does with me. My favorite part of the piece was the regional hotspots which, despite the pastel shading, clearly presented the information.

London has more restaurants than the rest of the country and of course, fine dining requires fine clothing, so London’s High Streets also boast more clothing stores. That makes sense to me.

The North-South divide is made clear with the number of fat people directly correlated with the concentration of takeaways (fast food for my American cousins), in the North of the country. Alas, as a Brit in the US, this only made me yearn for chips, mushy peas, pudding and gravy…twice!

One surprise for me was that the Welsh have such a higher concentration of pubs on their High Streets than the rest of the country, even London. This may have something to do with the state of Welsh rugby and the need to drown sorrows, but one glaring sign of whiteness was around London itself. Something didn’t ring true for me.  According to this infographic, London has the lowest concentration of the country.  Now I may be wrong on this, but I seriously must question the data on that, though if true, it is a shame this wasn’t highlighted and drawn out more.

Another surprise for me was that the hairy Scots have a higher incidence of hairdressers. I expect this can be explained by the need for all that Celtic hairiness creating demand.  However, it is usually the English who are viewed as more, shall we say ‘effeminate’, by our northern coiffured neighbors. This may also be explained by the parlous state of Scottish rugby at the moment, with husbands and boyfriends losing huge bets with wives and girlfriends. Long may that continue.

Design: C-

A lack of boldness, sickly colors and the London Underground-style comparative chart just turned me off. What saved this from an F were the 6 regional hotspot maps of the country.

Information: A+

Loved the information with the regional hot spot maps. Could have drawn out some of the big points a little more, but in a way this was a good thing because it made me curious. In other words, it gave me just enough to leave me wanting more.

via:  simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge from simplybusiness.co.uk