Edward Tufte
If you like overheads, you'll love PowerPoint.Collection: Computers
The minimum we should hope for with any display technology is that it should do no harm.Collection: Technology
The point of the essay is to change things.Collection: Change
I do believe that there are some universal cognitive tasks that are deep and profound - indeed, so deep and profound that it is worthwhile to understand them in order to design our displays in accord with those tasks.Collection: Design
Beautiful Evidence is about the theory and practice of analytical design.Collection: Design
The commonality between science and art is in trying to see profoundly - to develop strategies of seeing and showing.Collection: Science
I think it is important for software to avoiding imposing a cognitive style on workers and their work.
The leading edge in evidence presentation is in science; the leading edge in beauty is in high art.
The speculative part of my work is that these particular cognitive tasks - ways of thinking analytically - are tied to nature's laws.
That is to say, nature's laws are causal; they reveal themselves by comparison and difference, and they operate at every multivariate space/time point.
My idea here is that, inasmuch as certain cognitive tasks and principles are tied to nature's laws, these tasks and principles are indifferent to language, culture, gender, or the particular mode of information that is provided.
The idea of trying to create things that last - forever knowledge - has guided my work for a long time now.
The goal is to provide analytical tools that will last students a lifetime.
A practical part of my teaching is to provide demonstrative, hands-on experiences.
My father worked for governments all his life as an engineer and public works director.
I am certainly not an intellectual relativist, nor a moral relativist.
I hope that I am generous and tolerant, but certainly on the intellectual side I think that there are discoverable truths, and some things that are closer approximations to the truth than others.
Public discussions are part of what it takes to make changes in the trillions of graphics published each year.
A curious consequence is that I have become a minor celebrity.
It is straightforward for me to be ethical, responsible, and kind-hearted because I have the resources to support that.
There are many true statements about complex topics that are too long to fit on a PowerPoint slide.
What this means is that we shouldn't abbreviate the truth but rather get a new method of presentation.
What gets left out is the narrative between the bullets, which would tell us who's going to do what and how we're going to achieve the generic goals on the list.
I was writing a chapter of Beautiful Evidence on the subject of the sculptural pedestal, which led to my thinking about what's up on the pedestal - the great leader.
Only drug dealers and software companies call their customers 'users'Collection: Drug
Graphical excellence is that which gives to the viewer the greatest number of ideas in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest space.Collection: Ideas
Good design is a lot like clear thinking made visual.Collection: Thinking
The essential test of design is how well it assists the understanding of the content, not how stylish it is.Collection: Design
If you’re told what to look for, you can’t see anything else.Collection: Looks
Confusion and clutter are failures of design, not attributes of information. And so the point is to find design strategies that reveal detail and complexity - rather than to fault the data for an excess of complication. Or, worse, to fault viewers for a lack of understanding.Collection: Data
What is to be sought in designs for the display of information is the clear portrayal of complexity. Not the complication of the simple; rather the task of the designer is to give visual access to the subtle and the difficult - that is, revelation of the complex.Collection: Simple
Simple design, intense content.Collection: Simple
In general, I think audiences are a lot smarter than people think. So, it's not "know your audience", it's "respect your audience, and really know your content".Collection: Thinking
Good design is clear thinking made visible, bad design is stupidity made visibleCollection: Thinking
Above all else show the data.Collection: Data
It is not how much empty space there is, but rather how it is used. It is not how much information there is, but rather how effectively it is arranged.Collection: Space
Design isn't crafting a beautiful, textured button with breathtaking animation. It's figuring out if there's a way to get rid of the button altogether.Collection: Beautiful
There is no such thing as information overload, just bad design. If something is cluttered and/or confusing, fix your design.Collection: Design
If the statistics are boring, you've got the wrong numbers.Collection: Numbers
Design cannot rescue failed content.Collection: Design
An open mind but not an empty head.Collection: Mind
Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information.Collection: Simple
There are only two industries that refer to their customers as 'users'.Collection: Technology
If your words or images are not on point, making them dance in color won't make them relevant.Collection: Color
Clutter is not a property of information. Clutter is a failure of design.Collection: Design
Make all visual distinctions as subtle as possible, but still clear and effective.Collection: Simplicity
Great design is not democratic; it comes from great designers. If the standard is lousy, then develop another standard.Collection: Design
I have stared long enough at the glowing flat rectangles of computer screens. Let us give more time for doing things in the real world...plant a plant, walk the dogs, read a real book, go to the opera.Collection: Dog
A metaphor for good information design is a map. Hold any diagram against a map and see how it compares.Collection: Design