Network visualization has experienced a meteoric rise in the last decade, bringing together people from various fields and capturing the interest of individuals across the globe. As the practice continues to shed light on an incredible array of complex issues, it keeps drawing attention back onto itself.

Manuel Lima is a Senior UX Design Lead at Microsoft Bing and founder of VisualComplexity.com, and was nominated as ‘one of the 50 most creative and influential minds of 2009’ by Creativity Magazine.

He visited the RSA to explore a critical paradigm shift in various areas of knowledge, as we stop relying on hierarchical tree structures and turn instead to networks in order to properly map the inherent complexities of our modern world. The talk showcased a variety of captivating examples of visualization and also introduce the network topology as a new cultural meme.