This is Burning Man
The history of Burning Man has always been a complex entity that has survived, nay, mutated over the years. And because of this, it has grown rapidly since its humble beginnings of a simple gathering on a beach.
The infographic poster shows only a small portion of what Burning Man is. By no means do mere numbers even begin to show a complete picture, as that is a history of stories, experiences, and individual tales.
Alas, data points for 2010 are obviously not included at this time. When the information is announced, that information will be updated.
Yeah, you're probably going to want to embiggen this: www.flickr.com/photos/xmasons/4841339241/sizes/o/in/photo...
///// UPDATE /////
Updated version of this graphic may be found at: xmasons.com/prints/burning-man-infographic/
Comments and faves
sfslim, colinaut, icka, hackmancoltaire, and 276 other people added this photo to their favorites.
rangerbeauty (34 months ago | reply)
We'll swag you something *WAY KEWL* for a printed version of this!
Ranger Love,
Beauty & RatBastard
BrodyQat (34 months ago | reply)
Pretty badass, FlintCo.
melody95006 (34 months ago | reply)
Very Very nice poster.Great job!
icka (34 months ago | reply)
wonderful
Halcyon (34 months ago | reply)
Sweet!
munkies2 (34 months ago | reply)
Well done!
Molly McGee (34 months ago | reply)
Incredible! nice work
Qathi (34 months ago | reply)
That is really neat!
laszy (34 months ago | reply)
I love it! Can't wait for this year!
EspressoBuzz (34 months ago | reply)
Lovin the infoporn!
inhuman tsar (34 months ago | reply)
Love it! What's the story behind the sudden leap in BLM citations for the green man?
FluffyEvil (34 months ago | reply)
Well executed and thought out and with beautiful design. Thanks for creating this!
belliegerencemacmuff (34 months ago | reply)
I would love a poster of this framed in my house
swayframe (34 months ago | reply)
Great work!
I am wondering the icon for the 1990 moon phase is supposed to represent? Is it an eclipse? If so, shouldn't it be under 2007?
Thanks.
redtimmy (34 months ago | reply)
Wow. This is on par with the graph of Napoleon's March.
www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/posters
One idea: next to the pie-chart breakdowns on sex, age, graduated college and income, can you add in a pie-chart breakdown on race? I would really like to see that if the data is available.
xmasons (34 months ago | reply)
In the year 1990 there were two separate events. Because they were not able to "officially" burn the Man on Baker Beach, they disassembled it and rebuilt it in the Black Rock Desert later that summer. Hence the two moon phases.
swayframe (34 months ago | reply)
Aaaah. Gotcha. Thanks!
xmasons (34 months ago | reply)
"...can you add in a pie-chart breakdown on race? I would really like to see that if the data is available."
I too would love those data points as well. Accurate census information for BRC has been challenging to come by, in particular the demographics regarding race.
Ben Zero (34 months ago | reply)
Bravo, Flint! Seriously badass.
JasonUnbound (34 months ago | reply)
very nice, flint. and deserving of all acclaim to come. :-)
Qathi (34 months ago | reply)
informatics are hawt, I want to rub it on my.... oh, are we in mixed company?
JahFae (34 months ago | reply)
Way to go man; that's an awesome infographic! Any chance there's a vector version? Or plans to sell a poster?
BRCFD Bill (34 months ago | reply)
I got your back Ranger Beauty.. I'll see you opening night at the radio tower with a printed version. have the coffee on I'll be working 9:00 side til morning.
BRCFD fire fighter Bill
dougtinva (34 months ago | reply)
Need to post this to the Chart Porn site...
tikifest (34 months ago | reply)
Tufte would be very proud
allaboutthemeow (34 months ago | reply)
Very interesting, Flint, and timely. Larry Harvey, Miss Kelly and I were in Washington DC a month ago, and met the guy that makes these timeplots.com/ same concept. We discussed what it would be like to make something for Burning Man. I'm impressed with the information, and yes, getting census data from our "census" is like pulling teeth even for us. But, it's a volunteer project and a labor of love for the Countess, so we must be patient. One interesting point I wanted to make about the population numbers for the various festivals/gatherings. Coachella plays differently regarding "population" and unique visitors. Their population NEVER reaches 200,000 for any one day. They don't have that capacity. Their capacity is in the 60-70K range. And, you can't buy one day tickets anymore, so their ticket sales might be more than that, but there is a capacity issue. For Coachella the released media number is a population number that is "accumulated" for all three days of the event. If one was to do math like that for us ours would be twice theirs. I have attended Coachella and met fellow producers there and know this math conundrum to be true. Nice work.
deadbull2012 (34 months ago | reply)
hey guys... sorry about what happened the alst two years. what with the frenia and all its jsut liek... logan/.
deadbull2012 (34 months ago | reply)
lacks.creativity.02@gmail.com
jovino (34 months ago | reply)
Fucking amazing info-graphic!
xmasons (34 months ago | reply)
Your observations are correct, an I certainly wouldn't want to ding the BRC census folks for their volunteer work. They do the best with what they have under some fairly interesting conditions.
The event/festival size graphic is a challenge in accuracy, as some of those events last for only for a few hours (Super Bowl) or perhaps a few months (Kumbh Mela). The intention is to show a mark of population of interest around such events and to give a perspective of volume.
Again, thanks for your comments!
Mad Chatter (34 months ago | reply)
bloody awesome!
MrsFishkin (34 months ago | reply)
beautifully graphic for anything BM related - and so great to see that data in one place. fantastic
diablopix (34 months ago | reply)
WOW!
Thank you, just Fantastic!
Any chance you'd have the gumption to do something like this for this year's burn?
www.flickr.com/photos/bgjohnson/1235998984/si zes/l/
I've emailed them the last few years but I think this was a one time deal only
Please come by our camp ZanZibar, 7:30/Bagdad when you are on the Playa, I have something for you!
Diablo
bozofish11 (34 months ago | reply)
super nice. hoping for a downloadable.
yelahneb (34 months ago | reply)
totally wonderful!
Tara Monster (34 months ago | reply)
You are, as always, amazing my friend :)
capjbadger (34 months ago | reply)
Very very cool! Love it. :D
Number of Mutant Vehicles would be interesting to see. :)
Lisa Sunde (34 months ago | reply)
Agree with the number of mutant vehicles for sure. This is fits right into my left brained Virgo mind. I am pleasantly elated from knowing I can reference this info in one click.
And it is good to know that I am not crazy, the Man has been shrinking and even growing in size over the years... how tiny in 2008!
redtutto (34 months ago | reply)
awesome thanks for making this...
Silicon Buddha (34 months ago | reply)
Can I take this and turn it into a poster? Is this something that I can gift to people? I mean as long as I don't sell it or anything?
I want this on my wall in a bad way.
panzaogle (34 months ago | reply)
Wow! Really impressive! Great information and really great info viz!
taggytowmow (34 months ago | reply)
Dude no way man that is just way too cool. I like it dude.
Lou
www.anonymous-surfing.es.tc
larrydevincenzi (34 months ago | reply)
Amazing perspectives. Thanks for the overview and great design.
boffobacon (34 months ago | reply)
Getting race data would be potentially pretty embarrassing. It can look like the Republican National Convention at times out there.
allaboutthemeow (34 months ago | reply)
xmasons, I see your approach, I'm just saying the way festival promoters release their numbers are related to what they want to get from it. Advertising revenue and sponsorship dollars is one of the motivators for "population figures". I have some perspective since i've attended Glasto, the Roo and Coachella.....and strip away media numbers and use straight "max pop".....size goes like this (small to large): BMan, Coachella, Bonnaroo and Glasto. The latter of which IS the mother of all events, and someday we'll have the capacity to host 150,000 people on the desert and it'll be one "off the hook family picnic" in the desert! An interesting and AMUSING variable that could be partnered WITH the maximum population that I've enjoyed observing is how many "brand" or "sponsorship" logos are present at various festivals. Just using the "program" or schedule as the gauge from most to least it's Bonnaroo, Coachella, Glastonbury, and Burning Man. I started the Burning Man census project years ago, online first and then paperbased b/c I'm a statistics junkie. We use statistics to impress politicians quite frequently! Political affiliation is one of the most fascinating and most surprising.
ErzenDesign (34 months ago | reply)
Amazing work, great job.
I love this picture.
glentropy (34 months ago | reply)
I noticed an absence of the stats depicting gullible self-righteous idiots.
FallenPegasus (34 months ago | reply)
This is awesome. What app did you use to compose it in? Is it available as a PDF?
CBC Radio 3 (34 months ago | reply)
Gorgeous.
s_megan (34 months ago | reply)
Countess here. Amazing work. If you are missing any census data, please let me know how I can help.