TerraPlana
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data visualization
"byTerraPlana was founded in 2000 and gathers professionals interested in the fields of Graphic Communication and Data Visualization (designers, illustrators, web designers, computer programmers, mapmakers, ...).
We work on the analysis and processing of data and also planning and development of graphical documents that illustrate and communicate data, ideas, information and knowledge."
Miguel Nogueira, Geographer/Cartographer, Founder of byTerraPlana
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WHY WORK WITH
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"NOW I SEE IT..."
Imagine yourself flipping a book ... pages and pages of text ... Suddenly, an illustration, a photograph, a chart, a map appears ... Your become committed to it. Immediately. Instantly. You stop and stare, and you read what that picture has to tell you ... isn't that true?
And that is the power of the image: to fix, to capture attention and communicate ... and it's up to us – byTeraPlana – to explore this communication vehicle.
We believe that no data table, no matter how well structured it might be, can rival the graphics and how they expose and describe variables, picture distributions, and explore trends...
When it comes to geographical information, we strongly believe that no text, no matter how well written it is, can describe/construct in our minds, the earth's surface. Through map reading, we are able to interpret and analyze patterns, spatial relationships or establish hierarchies ...
At byTeraPlana , we stand for the primacy of images over words.
Here some facts:
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Visual content strikes an individual's brain more quickly and comprehensibly than textual information.
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90 percent of all information that comes to the brain is visual.
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It also takes the brain longer to process text or verbal information, while the time it takes to process non-verbal visual content is 0.25 seconds. Some sources suggest that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text, which explains why we often find ourselves reading the same sentence eight times or looking at a page and realizing that we have no idea what we read !!
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We remember 80% of what we see, and only 20% of what we read !!!
Now, do you see it?
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RESPONSABILITY
Such power means greater responsibility ... the wrong picture or graphic can distort a message, create and spread a deceitful fact. At byTeraPlana , our commitment lies in the cross-section of 3 major areas: Art, Science and Technique. It´s at the confluence of these three knowledge areas that we aim to be and we credit our work.
In byTeraPlana , our mission is to create graphic documentation that, rather than appealing, is effective, reliable and responsible, because scientifically supported.
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CLOSE CONTACT
You might not know how to create maps and other graphic illustrations... Believe us when we say we probably don´t know anything about your field of expertise!
Now, if we work together, if we gather all that we know and share it in amazing up from earth brain-storm sessions, with a lot of creativity and good-scientific-sense, we will achieve other levels of understanding how your data works, how it can be reorganized, restructured and after that data clearance and edifying process we will figure out the best solutions for your data visualizations!...
These outcomes can only be achieved if we work together, as a team. If we share our ideas, if we debate any constrains and identify all the graphic potential that lays inside your data.
Yes, byTeraPlana is based in Porto, Portugal! Yes. But, nowadays, we have all the technological tools and means to overlap the physical proximity during the work course.
So... let’s meet!
TerraPlana
GET TO KNOW
TerraPlana
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OUR STORY
Miguel Nogueira (b. 1971) is a portuguese Geographer with a master's degree in Urban Planning.
After his degree in 1994, he started working in the academic environment at his University. He was one of the team members responsible for the development of thematic maps to depict the achieved results of a research project in urban planning.
Simultaneously, he realized that Maps and other graphic resources were not exclusive tools for Geographer. Geographers are the most competent technicians to create maps but... there are so many other scientific areas hunger for those skills to communicate their scientific results…
Miguel's strong convictions and resilience led him to bring together a group of talented people interested in the same subjects from database experts to illustrators and what started as an informal group of energetic, creative, talented and work-intensive people has become byTerraPlana.
OUR VISION
So byTerraPlana was founded in 2000, a place where there was no science boundaries, where those theoretical multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches ruled!... And what amazing results we all gathered started to achieve. Social scientists (historians, sociologists, …), Natural scientists (environmentalists, biologists, …), Health and Medical scientists, all them embrace the challenge to transform all that data and knowledge they work with into graphic resources (maps, charts, diagrams, you name it!).
It was a blast! First, because our partners started to look at their subjects of study in a completely different way. After visualizing the data, they saw “hidden information”, patterns, particularities they never noticed before in their data collections. And secondly, because they started to communicate their results in a clearer, appealing, creative way, reaching a wider and diverse range of people.
That’s how it all started… What a journey it has been!
OUR WORK
At byTerraPlana we create graphic resources that transmute massive, complex, textual ideas and concepts into graphics, easy-to-understand, friendly, clear and thought-provoking visual resources.
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You ask "Where?" and we create maps.
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You ask "When?" and we create timelines.
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You ask "How much?" and we create charts.
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You ask "How?" and we create flowcharts.
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You ask "Who? What?" and we create a portrait.
Ok, you have a story to tell… and you don’t know you do have? Talk to us.
You do know you have a story to tell but you don’t know how to? Talk to us.
All stories are best told with the help of visual tools. By now you already know it. So...
At byTerraPlana we work in close contact with:
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Researchers and Academics on their research projects, scientific articles, Masters or PhD Thesis (thematic mapping, dabase architecture, graphics and diagrams, ...)
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Editorial boards and Book Authors (ilustrations, maps, ...)
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Companies and Enterprises (web content, reports, decision making graphic resources, ...)
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more info here.
Just get in contact with us and share your ideas and interests. Ask the questions!
WHO WORK WITH
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TerraPlana
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RESEARCHERS
byTeraPlana has already a long experience of working together with people and teams linked to the academic world, involved in research projects or in individual investigations.
Whenever the volume of scientific information generated demanded graphic solutions that communicated Knowledge, in a clear, fast and effective way, byTeraPlana was a partner in (re) solving the challenges posed.
We develop projects that graphically translate different scientific information generated in the research paths, accompanying researchers from the most embryonic stages of their projects to presenting and disseminating results. In this way, we guarantee a thoughtful line of thought, with matured and improved ideas, that unifies the different documents, articulates them, gives them consistency and legibility.
Products: graphics, illustrations, thematic cartography, databases, websites, presentations, ...
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EDITORS
byTeraPlana offers graphic solutions that qualify content in editorial products.
From thematic collections of reference to Atlas, through Roadmaps or Tourist Guides, there are several works that welcome the work done byTeraPlana .
Accompanying the entire editing process, from the writing phase (which can, in and of itself, give rise to new ideas for data visualization) to the publishing phase, thus guaranteeing a graphic line with ideas Matured and improved, which unifies the different documents, articulates them, gives them consistency and legibility.
The pedagogical resources for classroom application or textbooks often use graphic solutions that optimize students' learning and assimilation process.
In close partnership with Teachers and Authors / Editors, byTeraPlana develops graphically appealing and scientifically supported school material, articulated with the curricula of each discipline.
We guarantee a consistent graphic line, with matured and improved ideas, that unifies the different documents, articulates them and makes them readable.
Products: graphics, thematic cartography, illustrations, ...
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COMPANIES
Hold, capture their attention.
Images paint the picture for audiences, reflect your identity, and brings out your accomplishments.
An area still little explored by the business fabric is related to the development and enrichment of documentation generated within the Companies.
This information is plentiful but often fragmented, disjointed, and therefore almost always underutilized.
At byTeraPlana we believe that a graphic approach to this documentation and data collections can give them a renewed usefulness and use; The creation of graphic documents from these sources of information will support and sustain the processes of analysis, planning and decision making.
Thus, we work closely with company executives in the development of graphic projects to be integrated in:
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Activity reports
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Presentations of results
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market studies
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Strategic plans
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In teams coordination plans,
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Any and all documentation generated within the scope of the activities of a Company or Institution.
And the results are always surprising! ...
Products: databases, illustrations, websites, social media, maps, graphics, presentations, ...
