One of the great uses of graphic design is helping a viewer envision dense and complex information. Take a look at this wonderful clip from BBC-TV. Swedish doctor and health educator Hans Rosling demonstrates how an effective presentation can help a layman clearly understand complicated data that would otherwise be a just a mass of gray tables.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo&feature=player_embedded]

You can argue about whether all this health and growth is a good thing for the planet or not (feel free to do that in the comments!) and also whether the scale adequately shows the huge disparity between the lowest and highest income levels (they used a logarithmic scales so it could fit onscreen and still be visible). Nonetheless, I think it’s amazingly impactful…and fun to watch.