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> It's true that Tufte's pioneering work was done in the age of paper, but that simplicity and clarity of purpose is even in greater need today. His principles

> It's true that Tufte's pioneering work was done in the age of paper, but that simplicity and clarity of purpose is even in greater need today. His principles aren't infallible. This 2007 study found that a group of students preferred a graph with "chart junk" to Tufte's minimalist style, although the study does note that this may have been caused by the students' familiarity with "chart junk" graphs. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1362587 http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1362587

danso 13y ago
The paper you link to is pay wall protected so I'm loathe to dismiss it without actually reading it...but the fact that it's been cited once and has this in its abstract: > Motivation -- To evaluate people's acceptance of the minimalist approach to information visualization. Um, OK...there are so many things wrong with that as a scientific hypothesis that I don't even know where to start. Perhaps the fact that this hypothesis was tested against a single example is a sufficient red flag? Doesn't it feel a bit of a stretch to refer to this study's findings so matter of factly? In any case, though, I agree with this study. And so maybe would Tufte...it's not about what people prefer, it's about what people actually learn and understand from the graphics. Is your purpose to clarify and educate? Or to please the eye? I don't think Tufte would ever argue that he would win in a contest of the latter (it is true, though, that elegance often correlates with simplicity)...so what this "study" is trying to prove entirely misses the point. Do a study of whether an average group of people are more drawn to the works of Ernest Hemingway versus Dan Brown...I don't think you'd find the results of that study being a conclusive argument that Dan Brown is among our greatest writers.
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  The study was scientific in measuring subject preference. That doesn't say much obviously. Many people prefer hamburgers to salads, and eye candy is often preferred even when it reduces efficiency.
jfarmer 13y ago
Eh. I haven't read the study and it's behind a pay wall, but from your description and the abstract this sounds like it's measuring subject preference. Whether subjects prefer "chart junk" is orthogonal to the question of information comprehension and retention, though.
bulletsvshumans 13y ago
There's a semi-recent study showing that people's recollection of the material two weeks later is higher when they see a chart junk version vs. the clean chart. That's the real game changer imho.
- deleted 13y ago
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saraid216 13y ago
I suspect that this is a far more meaningful paper to link to: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1753716 http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1753716 I declined to go through the paywall, though, so I have not read either paper.

danso 13y ago

The paper you link to is pay wall protected so I'm loathe to dismiss it without actually reading it...but the fact that it's been cited once and has this in its abstract: > Motivation -- To evaluate people's acceptance of the minimalist approach to information visualization. Um, OK...there are so many things wrong with that as a scientific hypothesis that I don't even know where to start. Perhaps the fact that this hypothesis was tested against a single example is a sufficient red flag? Doesn't it feel a bit of a stretch to refer to this study's findings so matter of factly? In any case, though, I agree with this study. And so maybe would Tufte...it's not about what people prefer, it's about what people actually learn and understand from the graphics. Is your purpose to clarify and educate? Or to please the eye? I don't think Tufte would ever argue that he would win in a contest of the latter (it is true, though, that elegance often correlates with simplicity)...so what this "study" is trying to prove entirely misses the point. Do a study of whether an average group of people are more drawn to the works of Ernest Hemingway versus Dan Brown...I don't think you'd find the results of that study being a conclusive argument that Dan Brown is among our greatest writers.

seanmcdirmid 13y ago
The study was scientific in measuring subject preference. That doesn't say much obviously. Many people prefer hamburgers to salads, and eye candy is often preferred even when it reduces efficiency.

jfarmer 13y ago

Eh. I haven't read the study and it's behind a pay wall, but from your description and the abstract this sounds like it's measuring subject preference. Whether subjects prefer "chart junk" is orthogonal to the question of information comprehension and retention, though.

bulletsvshumans 13y ago

There's a semi-recent study showing that people's recollection of the material two weeks later is higher when they see a chart junk version vs. the clean chart. That's the real game changer imho.

deleted 13y ago
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saraid216 13y ago

I suspect that this is a far more meaningful paper to link to: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1753716 http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1753716 I declined to go through the paywall, though, so I have not read either paper.