Site traffic stats can make pretty, pretty pictures

(Credit: James Spahr)

Web site traffic statistics are usually pretty dull. Pie charts. Bar graphs. Line charts. Maybe, if you're lucky, there's a colorful gradient fill in there somewhere. But it doesn't have to be that way anymore, as digital designer James Spahr has figured out a creative way to turn Web traffic data into pretty patterns.

Here's how it works, in simplistic terms: Traffic spirals clockwise. A thick line represents more traffic than a thin line. The colors represent categories of Web sites, like generic pages as opposed to "hubs" or random links (like a shopping cart checkout page). I'm nevertheless still having issues trying to figure out exactly how to make anything of it, but hey, it looks good.

Originally posted at Information Aesthetics.