Tufte boiled down to bulletpoints

A link showed up on Blogdex for Graphics and Web Design Based on Edward Tufte’s Principles. For those not familiar with Tufte, he is the author of three very fine books: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Envisioning Information and Visual Explanations. These books, which Tufte beautifully self-published, are filled with great examples (and counter-examples) of good ways to communicate information.

Tufte also wrote a paper on the woes of PowerPoint presentations. This makes it somewhat ironic that the “Graphics and Web Design Based On Edward Tufte’s Principles” boils down Tufte’s books into a bullet list outline. Sure, there’s more content there than in a typical PowerPoint presentation, but it still struck me as mildly amusing.

For those not familiar with Tufte, though, you might check out that outline for a taste of what’s in the books. The books are certainly a lot more visual, and I’d highly recommend them if the content in that outline sounds appealing. Tufte is also a good speaker, if you happen to find him coming to your area.