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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.

Edward Tufte

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Edward Tufte
Age: 82
Born: 1942
Born: March 14
Computer Scientist
Graphic Designer
Political Scientist
Sculptor
Statistician
University Teacher
Writer
Kansas City
Missouri
Edward R. Tufte
Edward Rolfe Tufte
Edward Rolf Tufte
Time
Number
Gives
Numbers
Shortest
Greatest
Viewer
Least
Ink
Space
Viewers
Ideas
Smallest
Giving
Excellence

More quotes by Edward Tufte

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Public discussions are part of what it takes to make changes in the trillions of graphics published each year.
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The point of the essay is to change things.
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There is no such thing as information overload, just bad design. If something is cluttered and/or confusing, fix your design.
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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.
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Great design is not democratic it comes from great designers. If the standard is lousy, then develop another standard.
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Simple design, intense content.
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The best graphics are about the useful and important, about life and death, about the universe. Beautiful graphics do not traffic with the trivial.
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The commonality between science and art is in trying to see profoundly - to develop strategies of seeing and showing.
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Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information.
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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.
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If you like overheads, you'll love PowerPoint.
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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.
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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.
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The idea of trying to create things that last-forever knowledge-has guided my work for a long time now.
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There are many true statements about complex topics that are too long to fit on a PowerPoint slide.
Edward Tufte
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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.
Edward Tufte
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The world is much more interesting than any one discipline.
Edward Tufte
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The world is generally multivariate
Edward Tufte
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The world is complex, dynamic, multidimensiona l the paper is static, flat. How are we to represent the rich visual world of experience and measurement on mere flatland?
Edward Tufte
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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.
Edward Tufte