The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
Despite the long-winded title, this book is a short and sweet introduction into data visualization — graphs, charts, tables, you name it. The first section of the book provides the fundamentals with a brief history, basic definitions, and the closest thing to an industry standard comprised of “excellence”, “integrity”, and “competence”. The second part delves into more complex application of graphics, ranging from the good of “aesthetics” and “technique” to the bad of “data-ink” and “chartjunk”. If this jargon is already intimidating you, don’t worry: Tufte presents the topic in a witty, approachable, and captivating manner that will change the way you look at graphics forever.
As the book progresses, Tufte explores the various dimensions that graphs can take on. If theres a quantitative message to be conveyed, there’s an illustration out there for it, whether it’s the slow death of Napoleon’s army during their march on Russia (Tufte’s personal favorite), or the varying combinations of rage and fear on a dog’s face (mine). Although the data and its message may vary, however, the design protocols do not. In one chapter, Tufte addresses the importance of data-ink and redundant data. The former is the un-erasable core of the graphic (ex: dots, labels), while the latter serves as an accessory that can either help or hinder the underlying message (ex: grid lines, ticks); in order to reach the best graph possible, a perfect ratio between the two must be achieved. Such a simple concept can apply even to the comparison of faces. According to the redundant nature of symmetrical data, two people are better compared to one another if their faces are split in halves rather than wholes.
This is visible in the illustration of before-and-afters nearly everywhere, like those seen in makeup techniques (MAC Cosmetics), before-and-afters (Methamphetamine PSAs), and news publications (Buzzfeed’s infamous slider as seen to the left, or Time Magazine’s cover for “Ides of March”). This kind of reevaluation of basic data portrayals will alter the way you view — and hopefully inform — the world. After all, if data maps could stop the outbreak of Cholera in 19th century London and save hundreds of lives (“But how?” you ask), then imagine what you can do today (“Read the book,” I respond).
While Tufte is certainly one of the foremost voices on the topic of visual data, it is worth noting that he is not the end-all-be-all. For example, I was surprised by his intense aversion to “ducks” (the use of decoration as an dominating visual element), which are prevalent everywhere in society. As long as used intelligently, I believe they can be interesting and convey information quickly due to their strong visual nature. After all, just google the title of the book and you’ll immediately note that it scores 4.5 stars — not a bar graph of 4.5 units.
My opinions are highly biased, however, due to my studies; I’m both an advertising major and hopeful new media certificate recipient. I am the “illustrator” he criticizes as using artistic skill as crutch. Within the industry I hope to join, data misrepresentation in the form of deception, distortion, ambiguity, and design variation are all common in order to more positively represent a client and make that extra buck. And during my classes, I’m equipped with slick new technologies like photoshop, dreamweaver, and bootstrap that allow me to add visuals for their own sake rather than the data’s. I hope that in picking up some of Tufte’s wisdom, I am able to recognize my own weaknesses in such fields and master the simple but ultimate point of visual data: to reveal the complex.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Visual-Display-Quantitative-Information/dp/0961392142
