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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.

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
Important
Graphics
Life
Trivial
Traffic
Useful
Universe
Death
Beautiful
Best

More quotes by 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
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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.
Edward Tufte
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There are only two industries that refer to their customers as 'users'.
Edward Tufte
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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.
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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It is straightforward for me to be ethical, responsible, and kind-hearted because I have the resources to support that.
Edward Tufte
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The idea of trying to create things that last-forever knowledge-has guided my work for a long time now.
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.
Edward Tufte
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Make all visual distinctions as subtle as possible, but still clear and effective.
Edward Tufte
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Great design is not democratic it comes from great designers. If the standard is lousy, then develop another standard.
Edward Tufte
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Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information.
Edward Tufte
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Beautiful Evidence is about the theory and practice of analytical design.
Edward Tufte
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If the statistics are boring, you've got the wrong numbers.
Edward Tufte
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If you like overheads, you'll love PowerPoint.
Edward Tufte
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Design cannot rescue failed content.
Edward Tufte
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My father worked for governments all his life as an engineer and public works director.
Edward Tufte
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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.
Edward Tufte
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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.
Edward Tufte
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I think it is important for software to avoiding imposing a cognitive style on workers and their work.
Edward Tufte
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The world is much more interesting than any one discipline.
Edward Tufte