Envisioning Information
by Edward R. Tufte · first published 1990
76% recommend24% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Richly illustrated survey of how to present dense information well, with historical and modern examples on color, annotation and layout; inspiring for designers, developers and anyone making charts.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The celebrated design professor here tackles the question of how best to communicate real-life experience in a two-degree format, whether on the printed page or the computer screen. Review: The Whole Earth Review called Envisioning Information a "passionate, elegant revelation.
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…Dweck. As one HN reader commented, "It'll change the way you think about the way you think." Highly recommended. Language in Thought and Action by S. I. Hayakawa. How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler. Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte. Fooled By Randomness by Nassim Taleb. E. W. Bovill's English Country Life 1780-1830 was recommended by pg a while ago. My favorite so far this year is What Intelligence Tests Miss…
on “Ask HN: Books That Gratify One's Intellectual Curiosity?” ↗…non Designer's design book - http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-Robin-Willia... * Visual Language for Designers - http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Language-Designers-Principles-U... * Tuft's Envisioning Information - http://www.amazon.com/Envisioning-Information-Edward-R-Tufte... * I have found some good online articles http://delicious.com/csmeder/ux ----------------------------------------------------------…
on “Ask HN: Modern web design resources?” ↗I especially like that Chiang's "Story of your Life" is included there. I found both the story and the movie personally significant, and the dance notation that Edward Tufte included in either, Envisioning Information and Quantitative Display is very good. Other examples might include how Feynman diagrams changed how we thought about atoms, state diagrams how we thought about algorithms. Sequence diagrams are vastly…
on “Collection of quotes on interesting notations and how they affect thought” ↗…neat course. I've been meaning to jump in to the Processing language for a while now; never had enough time to. If you're in to data visualization, I would highly recommend Edward Tufte's beautiful tome Envisioning Information http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0961392118/ . (Which reminds me, Amazon, please introduce some decent looking permalinks. Am I giving away my SID with that link or what?) You may know Tufte…
on “CS171 - Data Visualization at Harvard” ↗…character who's in all his books, but on the whole, The Baroque Cycle, which this is the second volume of, has been very educational and always entertaining) The Visual Display of Quantative Information, Envisioning Information, Visual Explanations, and Beautiful Evidence (I picked up all four books by Edward Tufte at his one day training course. At the 2011 SVG Open, I was blown away by Mike Bostock's D3 demo, and Niel Fraser…
on “Ask HN: What are you reading? What've you read lately?” ↗It all begins with Tufte. http://www.amazon.com/Envisioning-Information-Edward-R-Tufte... http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Display-Quantitative-Informatio...
on “Ask news YC: Your best sources to learn about design & usability” ↗…annotated hospital bill? Because that was the first thing I thought of when seeing the beautifully-done annotations alongside the dense subway arrival time data. The chart I'm talking about is in Tufte's Envisioning Information, and is one of my favorite examples in all of his books: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BpxpK-1CIAAl2yH.png:large
on “An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system” ↗…really looking at and thinking about each graphic. Maybe start with the first few pages where Tufte lays out his criteria for graphical excellence. You may also want to look at his 2 subsequent books Envisioning Information and Visual Explanations wherein he goes into considerably more detail about particular aspects and techniques statistical graphics can use to show various types of patterns. I have probably spent 50…
on “How Useful Is Tufte for Making Maps? (2007)” ↗I've had to make up for a college education so these may be old hat. Alan Kay's UI lectures: http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details.php?seriesid=1906978270 Ed Tufte, especially Envisioning Information Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/classes/6.001/abelson-sussman-lectures/ Ed Yourdon: Death March... this is a great guide to dealing with enterprizey…
on “Startup founders, what books did you find most helpful?” ↗…Leader" by Gerald Weinberg Unconventional perspective on management "How Buildings Learn" by Stewart Brand One of the best books about designing long-term architectures. Excellent coffee table book "Envisioning Information" by Edward Tufte "Walt Disney" by Neal Gabler Excellent biography of maybe the greatest imagineer ever "The Art of Software Testing" by Glenford J. Myers ~100 page classic. The central premise is…
on “Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?” ↗* Getting Real - 37signals * Don't make me think! - Steve Krug * Envisioning Information - Edward Tufte * Purple Cow - Seth Godin (see TED talk for 15 min summary) * The Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki
on “Top Start-up books” ↗I find Tufte's "Envisioning Information" the most valuable (missing from the list).
on “Charts & Graphics: 10 excellent books” ↗…to decode. Time that could be better spent performing the tasks they've actually come to the app to do. I'd suggest having a read of Edward Tufte's The Visual Display of Quantitative Information and Envisioning Information to get a better grasp on these concepts.
on “GMail: designer arrogance and the cult of minimalism” ↗Data presentations should always be both aesthetically considered and correct, the right aesthetic can aid massively to help interpret the data. See Envisioning information by Edward Tufte http://www.edwardtufte.com/
on “Wind Map” ↗ha. yep. Tufte came in at number 6. I love that Envisioning Information one: http://www.amazon.com/Envisioning-Information-Edward-R-Tufte....
on “Design Books Every Hacker Should Read” ↗