[duopixel]

Edward Tufte does leave a deep impression. I stumbled upon his books in my university's library, about eight years ago, while studying design.

Some years later—while going through files on my old computer— I found a pair of schedules. I'd design these every semester so my friends knew where to find me, since I didn't have a cel phone.

Before Tufte (c1999): http://blog.duopixel.com/images/horario.gif

After Tufte (c2002): http://blog.duopixel.com/images/horario2.gif

If I'd design it now, I'd take a different approach yet again. In the end, good design is neither a nice style or maximizing data-to-ink ratio, it's about making information understandable and pleasurable to use.

[ChuckFrank]

Congratulations sir, and thank you for that excellent example. Professor Tufte held a master class while I was at UCLA Design, and his belief that information should be comprehensive, clear and legible, while obvious, still holds for me significant poetic challenges. Being comprehensive is not about simply adding more information. Instead it's about removing unnecessary information so as to prioritize the most relevant information. My favorite example of late is the NYT 2008 ballot redesign. Not only is it clear and legible, but it successfully removes all the unnecessary information to make the remaining information more actionable. --> http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/08/25/opinion/200808...