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Envisioning Information
Edward R. Tufte
*Envisioning Information* is the second of Edward Tufte's celebrated books on the visual display of information, and the most purely design-minded of them. Its subject is how to represent the many-dimensioned world of data on the flat, two-dimensional plane of paper or screen — "escaping flatland," as he puts it. Across lavishly printed pages, Tufte examines maps, timetables, diagrams, scientific charts, guidebooks and more, drawing principles like layering and separation, small multiples, and the disciplined use of color and detail. Self-published through his Graphics Press in 1990 with exacting multi-color printing and some 400 illustrations, the book is itself an argument by example. A modern classic of information design, it speaks to designers, analysts, scientists and anyone who presents data to others.
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The author
Edward R. Tufte is an American statistician and political scientist, professor emeritus at Yale, who became the leading popular authority on data visualization. He self-publishes his books through his own Graphics Press precisely so he can control their design and printing to the standard he preaches, and he is known for pointed opinions — including a famous critique of PowerPoint.
The book
Envisioning Information followed his landmark The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. It gathers a wide range of well- and ill-designed examples and distills them into working principles — micro/macro readings, layering, small multiples, color — for showing complex information clearly and honestly. It won numerous design awards.
How it has aged
Decades on, and despite predating today's interactive and screen-based tools, its principles remain foundational and widely taught; the physical book's own craftsmanship still impresses. Some find Tufte's aesthetic austere or his tone dogmatic, but his core ideas endure.
For more context
Read it alongside Tufte's other volumes, especially The Visual Display of Quantitative Information and Visual Explanations.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Edward R. Tufte
- Publisher
- Graphics Press
- Place of publication
- Cheshire, Connecticut
- Year
- 1990
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Art
- Location
- Colorado