We have to admit, it was the brightly colored beauty of this infographic, created by British graphic designer Leigh Riley and the digital media agency Arena Quantum, that first drew us to it. But its subject matter turns out to be perfect for this beautiful, 70-degree day in New York. (Shut up, Angelenos — this is a big deal for us.) The graph compares countries’ average annual hours of daylight, life expectancy, and life satisfaction, leaving us with a few noticeable trends but no easy conclusions. See the entire infographic, which includes some fascinating facts about the health benefits of sunshine and happiness, after the jump or click over to Designboom for a larger version.
Want to see a stereotype proven right? Take a gander at this map of U.S. Twitter users’ average moods at noon and 11 pm, created by Alan Mislove of Northeastern University and his team of researchers and based on three years of work studying 300 million tweets. While just about everyone is happier at night than midway through the work day, the West Coast is indisputably more prone to using positive language than the East Coast. And those of us in New York, apparently, are always kind of pissed. (Or, at least, we’re throwing words like “rape” and “suicide” around more often.) Read more about the study here.
