Edward Tufte’s

Principles & Guidelines

of Information Design
A framework for thinking about
Information Design

Haig Armen
harmen@ecuad.ca
I do not paint things,
I paint only the differences
between things

Henri Matisse
Paris, 1943
Edward Tufte
Tufte (pronounced TUFF-tee) defies easy
categorization. His academic training and work
at Stanford, Princeton, and Yale span statistics,
computer science, political economy, and
design.

Tufte’s fame all flows from a rethinking of

information design. He has consulted with
IBM, helped The New York Times redo its
information graphics, advised NASA and
recently been hired by Obama.
Tufte Books
The Visual Display of Quantitative Data

Visual Explanations

Envisioning Information

Beautiful Evidence
Principles of
Information Design
Guidelines for
Information Design

Micro/Macro Readings
Principles of
Information Design
1. Comparisons
2. Causality
3. Multivariate Analysis
4. Integration of Evidence
5. Documentation
Principle 1:
Comparisons
The fundamental analytical act in statistical
reasoning is to answer the question “Compared to
what?”

Whether we are evaluating changes over space or

time, plotting out variables, the essential point is to
make intelligent and appropriate comparisons.
 Comparison of World
s Rivers and Mountains

Without the various

sequences of lakes,
lakes, linearly arranged, this
information design
n design
becomes just another
bar chart.

Source:
Edward R. Tufte,
Envisioning Information, pp.77

Illustration:
Joseph Hutchins Colton, Johnson’s
New Illustrated Family Atlas
with Physical Geography
(New York 1864), pp. 10–11
 Source:
Edward R. Tufte,
Envisioning Information, pp.31

Illustration:
United States v. Gotti, et al., 1987
Chart supplied by counsel, Bruce
Cutler and Susan G. Kellman

A Graphic You Can’t Refuse:

Mobster John Gotti’s attorneys used this graphic (detail) in 1987
to show the jury the criminal history of the witnesses against their
client. The chart helped illuminate a major weakness in the case
against Gotti.

Visual displays of information encourage a diversity of individual

viewer styles and rates of editing, personalizing, reasoning, and
understanding.
Principle 2:
Causality
Visual displays of information should present
both cause and affect. Explaining the data helps
viewers see the relevance in the information.

In what way are you trying to assist thinking

What is the thinking task?
a

Finding the Cause of Cholera

When cholera deaths were
plotted on a map, they
showed a close link between
the disease and a Broad
Street water pump.

Source:
Edward R. Tufte, Visual Explanations:
Images and Quantities,
Evidence and Narrative, pp.27–31
 Illustrating Danger
Illustrating Danger
The designer of this graphic
responded to information
The designer of this graphic

provided by the
responded (U.S.) National
to information

Parkprovided
Service,
by after witnessing
the (U.S.) National a
drowning at this very river.
Park Service, after witnessing a

drowning at this very river.

Source:
Edward R. Tufte, Visual Explanations: Images
and Quantities,Evidence and Narrative, pp.144

Illustration:
Source:
Johnstone Quinan, The Washington Post
Edward R. Tufte, Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities,
June 9, 1985and Narrative, pp.144
Evidence

Illustration:
Johnstone Quinan, The Washington Post June 9, 1985
The Ultimate Weed
The Ultimate Weed
Rather than simply being
an inventory of parts, this
design portrays verbs and
Rather than simply being an

nouns. This
inventory of parts,design
this designblends

words andand
portrays verbs images into
nouns. This

adesign
memorable
blends words account.
and images into

Real details
a memorable combine
account. to
Real details

form
combine atocoherent picture
form a coherent picture

ofof an imagined
an imagined plant. plant.

Source:
Source:
Edward R. Tufte, Visual Explanations:
Edward R. Tufte, Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities,
Images
Evidenceand Quantities,
and Narrative, pp.126
Evidence and Narrative, pp.126
Illustration:
Patricia Wynne, Scientific American July, 1991
Illustration:
Patricia Wynne, Scientific American July, 1991
Principle 3:
Multivariant Analysis
Although many information graphics are
presented on two dimensions, they can
successfully present multiple variables to help
provide context and relevance.
The Fate of Napoleon’s Army Source:
Edward R. Tufte, The Visual Display of
Six variables are plotted in this rich, coherent Quantitative
Information, pp.41
story: the size of the army, its location on a
Illustration:
two-dimensional surface, direction of the Charles Joseph Minarde, Tableaux
Graphiques et CDartes
army’s movement, and temperature on various Figuratives de M. Minard
dates during the retreat from Moscow.
Principle 4:
Integration of Evidence
Displays of data are rarely presented without
the integration of words. Using proximity to
connect relevant explainations to graphics
provides a subtle understandable way to
illustrate complex storylines.
Visual Hierarchy in
Information Design
When everything is emphasized
(background, structure, content),
nothing is emphasized; the design
will often be noisy, cluttered, and
informationally flat.

Source:
Edward R. Tufte, Visual Explanations:
Images and Quantities,
Evidence and Narrative, pp.74
 Learning Typographical
Details
Codes obstruct parallelism; replacing codes with
direct labels unifies the information.

ical

m;

Source:
Edward R. Tufte, Visual Explanations:
Images and Quantities,
Evidence and Narrative, pp.98–99
HowHowbigbigis is
that cloud?
that cloud?
Fundamentals of scale,
orientation, and labels are often
Fundamentals of scale, orientation, and
missing in the colourful images
labels are often missing in the colourful
emanating from computer
images emanating from computer
visualizations. Tufte’s redesign
visualizations. Tufte's redesign locates
locates the storm within a
the storm within a 3-dimensional tripod of
3-dimensional tripod of scales
and directional arrows.
scales and directional arrows.

Source:
Edward R. Tufte, Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities,
Evidence and Narrative, pp.20–21

Source:
Edward R. Tufte, Visual Explanations:
Images and Quantities,
Evidence and Narrative, pp.20–21
Principle 5:
Documentation
The credibility of a presentation depends
significantly on the quantity and integrity of the
authors and their data sources.

Documentation is an essential mechanism of

quality control for displays of evidence. Thus
authors must be named, sources described, scales
labeled, details enumerated.
Guidelines for
Information Design

1. Use a narrative quality

( find a story to tell about the data)

2. Implement visual layering and separation to

reduce noise and enrich the content.

3 . Avoid Chart Junk - content-free decoration

4. When differentiating, use the ‘smallest effective difference’

Year-long life cycle of the Japanese beetle

This information design simultaneously

Life Cycle of the Japanese Beetle
Source:
Edward R. Tufte, Envisioning Information, pp.110
describes two dimensions, space and time,
This
on information
the horizontal design
while maintaining simultaneously
a vertical
Source:
Edward R. Tufte,
describes
spatial two dimensions, space
dimension. Envisioning Information,
pp.110
and time, on the horizontal while
maintaining a vertical spatial dimension.
Letterform comparison
In Letterform
theLetterform
original diagrams
comparison
comparison

(left) three A’s are filled in

andIn the
seven
In originalare
the original not,
diagrams
diagrams creating
(left)
(left)
three
three

twoA'sdistinct
are
A's filled
are filledand
in and
in and meaningless
sevenseven
are not,
are not,

visual
creatingclusters.
creating
two two
distinct Redrawn
distinct
and and
meaningless
meaningless

(right)
visual
with
visual
clusters.
all
clusters.
letterforms
Redrawn
Redrawn
(right)
(right)
withwith
filled in places
all letterforms
all letterforms
filled
all
filled
letterforms
in places
in places
all all
in aletterforms
common
letterforms
in a in
environment
common
a common environment
environment
more suitable for comparison.
moremore
suitable
suitable
for comparison.
for comparison.

Source: Source:
Edward Edward
R. Tufte,R.Visual
Tufte,Explanations:
Visual Explanations:
Images Images
and Quantities,
and Quantities,
EvidenceEvidence
Source: and Narrative,
and Narrative,
pp.112 pp.112

Edward R. Tufte, Visual Explanations:

Images and Quantities,
Evidence and Narrative, pp.112
 Chart Junk
Chart Junk
This data-thin
This data-thin chart
chart mixes mixes
up changes

up changes
in the in the
value of money with value
changes in

ofdiamond
money with
prices, changes
a crucial confusionin
diamond prices, a crucial
because the graph chronicles a time of
confusion
high inflation.
because the graph
chronicles a time of
high inflation.

Source:
Edward R. Tufte, Envisioning Information,pp.77

Illustration:
Source:
Joseph
EdwardHutchins Colton,
R. Tufte, Envisioning Johnson’s
Information, pp.77 New Illustrated
Family Atlas with Physical Geography (New York 1864)
Illustration:
Joseph Hutchins Colton, Johnson's New Illustrated Family Atlas
with Physical Geography (New York 1864), pp. 10–11
 More Chart Junk
In “the worst graphic ever to find
its way into print,” five colours
t,”
report only five pieces of data
(the division within each year
adds to 100 percent).

Lurking behind chart junk is

contempt both for information
f and for the audience. Cosmetic
decoration will never salvage an
underlying lack of content.

Source:
Edward R. Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative
Information, pp.118
Marshalling Signals
In the “information prison” (top), grid, silhouette, Source:
Edward R. Tufte, Envisioning
and type compete at the same nervous level. Too Information, pp.63
loud and too similar. To direct attention toward the
information at hand, the revision extends the light
to dark range of colour, separating and layering the
data in proportion to their relevance.
Micro / Macro Readings
The most elegant representations of data
illuminate information on both focused details as
well as higher levels of persepective.