:: Momentary Flash of Genius ::

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These are little grains of genius that strike at unexpected moments. Keep in mind that what I consider "genius" may not be quite up to snuff with what *you* consider genius!

Edward Tufte makes me heart analytical design

Friday, August 22, 2008

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go to a conference held by Edward Tufte, expert in informational graphics and information design.

I have seen books by Tufte, but never quite got what they were about. They are full of beautiful graphics, but I never stopped to read them. Not until my friend at work told me more about him and the stuff he does.

So I went to the seminar all revved up. The room was packed with almost 400 people! And while most people, I’m sure, were sent by their companies and seemed mildly bored, but I begged and pleaded to be allowed to attend. It was totally worth the groveling.

On one end, you could see how big a difference good design could make. Tons of complex data could be displayed in an easy to read and even enjoyable format! Bad design makes your eyes want to cross because its just information overload. It’s hard to describe without an example. I’ll take one example from his latest book, Beautiful Evidence. I’ll try to do it justice:

Below is a lithograph by Charles Joseph Minard depicting the losses in men, their movements, and the temperature of Napoleon’s 1812 Russian campaign.

Here is my slightly annotated version so you can see what these things mean. The yellow box indicates the zoomed image below.

You can visually see how the army gets thinner and thinner as they march toward Moscow. They started with 422,000 men. By the time they reach Moscow, they are down to 100,000. The black line shows their retreat. The cold of winter takes its toll and the troops keep dying. At one point, half the army is lost when they break through the ice on one of the rivers.

Here you see the comparison of how many started and how many survived the Russia Campaign.

422,000 men down to 10,000. That is incredible. And incredibly clear with this informational graphic.

Call me a nerd, but this kind of stuff really excites me! Lots of information isn’t to blame for overload. It’s bad design that’s to blame! For every situation, there must be a solution, not just any solution, but an AMAZINGLY clear and simple to read solution.

I know what to aim for now. I guess I’ll add that to the already mile high pile of “life callings”!