Last week I went down to San Francisco to visit a few friends, and on Monday was finally able to go see Edward Tufte speak. As an interaction designer, this was something I’d wanted to do for years. If you haven’t heard of him, he’s sort of the grandfather of information design and his ideas on information graphics are really incredible. While not everything he says always applies directly to the web, he’s got a lot of quotes that I find both inspirational and good to keep in the forefront of your mind when designing. Many of these points have been discussed before, but they just ring a little truer when relayed by a pompous East Coast intellectual. Well if you can get past that last bit, at least.
Here are some of my favorites from the talk:
“Whatever it takes” (to display the information) – Use the tools and ideas of those who came before you, but always do whatever it takes to display that information in a straightforward and easy-to-understand manner.
“Everything should be content driven” – Nothing revolutionary here, but you always have to be focused on the content. The one thing I’d add is that it with the web you should always be focused on context as well.
“There is no such thing as information overload, only bad design” – This is a bit of a sensationalized quote because in my mind there really can be too much information on a page, especially when taking context into consideration. The spirit of the quote, though, is that you should always work on designing a page to clearly communicate more information instead of just giving up and removing it.
“The user becomes unaware of the design in a good design – they become enthralled w/ content” – Again, this touches on everything, from the idea that design is about content to the notion that design is a vehicle for communication.
“Don’t get it original, get it right” – There are lots of information design problems that have already been solved. Look to those first to find out how your content is slightly different, then put your focus there.
“Show comparisons” – Let the user look at the data, all of the data, so they can make comparisons themselves. Don’t just “cherry pick” the data and only present them with things that make your point. Make your point by showing all of it in a clear way so your audience can choose for themselves.
“Build the code right in” – Where you can avoid keys and legends or when necessary, build the code into the data itself.
“Optimal designs are achieved when the designer is informed by the content” – This is absolutely true. The more general the design gets, the less effective it is. If you can know about all the content up front you’re able to get a much more holistic and complete design every time.
And one of my personal favorites, a classic:
“Talent immitates, genius steals”
-T.S. Eliot
Tufte travels around quite a bit, so if you’re able to get out for one of his one day courses I highly recommend it. The price is fairly reasonable, especially when you consider that you get all four of his books when you attend. His content is great – just be prepared for a bit of that east coast snobbery.
East coast snobbery? My good man that kind of slight is uncalled for.
Oh wait, we’re technically southeast coast snobs.
I’ve never gotten to see Tufte speak, but I’ve read a fair amount of his work. He always comes across as very blunt but on target. So I’m curious, what kind of visual presentation did he have?
@Carl Smith His presentation style was definitely like his writing, blunt and on target. As far as visuals he really mixed it up. He had movies, images, and even brought in a lot of original source documents which really helped drive the points home.
His 1570’s first edition publishing of Euclid’s Elements was an attention grabber.
East Coast snobbery, eh? As opposed to West Coast…passive aggressiveness? Come on, Tom! Biggie and Tupac are both gone now. Let’s keep that East Coast/West Coast stuff where it belongs, in hip hop’s past. :-)
I have yet to attend one of Tufte’s courses, but I’ll definitely check it out next time he’s in the area.
This one reminds me of something my 8th grade homeroom teacher said to some of the girls in our class who liked to wear too much make-up. She said, “If you ever hear someone comment on how nice your makeup looks, it’s not a compliment; but tone down the eyeshadow and they’ll be saying, ‘what beautiful eyes’.”
I’ve always remembered that and when I started wearing makeup in high school it made a huge difference for me in seeing moderation in everything.
If people are saying “what a beautiful website”, chances are they’re missing the content. Although that’s not to say it’s bad design altogether, but poor content design — if the goal is to highlight content, as opposed to showing off design prowess, as in the case of a designer/design firm website… like this one maybe. :)