Edward Tufte
Edward Tufte
Edward Rolf Tufteis an American statistician and professor emeritus of political science, statistics, and computer science at Yale University. He is noted for his writings on information design and as a pioneer in the field of data visualization...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEducator
Date of Birth14 March 1942
CountryUnited States of America
practice design firsts
If there is a well thought-out design standard, it should be followed. In practice, great design comes from great designers. That is empirically the case. If a great designer did a first-rate standard, that model should be followed. Great design is not democratic; it comes from great designers. If the standard is lousy, then develop another standard.
design information clutter
Clutter is not a property of information. Clutter is a failure of design.
school simple play
PowerPoint presentations too often resemble a school play - very loud, very slow, and very simple.
design details add
Here's the general theory: To clarify, add detail. Imagine that. To clarify, add detail. And clutter and overload are not an attribute of information, they are failures of design. If the information is in chaos, don't start throwing out information, instead fix the design.
beautiful life-and-death important
The best graphics are about the useful and important, about life and death, about the universe. Beautiful graphics do not traffic with the trivial.
looks ifs
If you’re told what to look for, you can’t see anything else.
art science design
The commonality between science and art is in trying to see profoundly - to develop strategies of seeing and showing.
letters helping truthful
If your words aren't truthful, the finest optically letter-spaced typography won't help,
curious minors consequence
A curious consequence is that I have become a minor celebrity.
computer power-of-love overhead
If you like overheads, you'll love PowerPoint.
artist editing design
Allowing artist-illustrators to control the design and content of statistical graphics is almost like allowing typographers to control the content, style, and editing of prose.
design confusing information
There is no such thing as information overload, just bad design. If something is cluttered and/or confusing, fix your design.
goal lasts tools
The goal is to provide analytical tools that will last students a lifetime
design maps information
Clutter is not an attribute of information, clutter is a failure of design...fix the design rather than stripping all the detail out of the map.