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The information is Beautiful visualizations usually frustrate me. They often hide the data's insights inside a fireworks-show of other design choices. So, they

by gojomo 12y ago

The information is Beautiful visualizations usually frustrate me. They often hide the data's insights inside a fireworks-show of other design choices. So, they wind up being abstract art that may, upon close study, reveal some fragments of information. (The Tuftean "data-ink ratio" runs very low.) Though they're obviously quite popular, I prefer more-usable comprehension-aids, that draw attention to underlying trends and relationships.

theoh 12y ago
I think you're right to be frustrated. It feels like the main motivation for creating the infographics is to fill the books, not to communicate previously opaque information. He's not a very convincing person: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnpJQyDXjQ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnpJQyDXjQ4
bane 12y ago
I agree, I think one of the take-aways from Tufte is that everything you do to a visualization should have meaning. Don't just change the colors of different objects to make them pretty, use colors to reveal another dimension of data. I think more dangerously, and something that Tufte also warns about, is using visualizations to skew the data towards a biased point, and all the clutter in infographics seems to be more towards this end than actually discovering and showing patterns in data, and then using your visualization to inform the viewer of those patterns. Infographics are so edited and so commercialized, you'll notice many of them aren't even available in readable resolutions, but are helpfully for sale as $29.99 posters on the author's webpage. You know what sells? Shocking or contrary items. So why wouldn't an infographic author skew what they're showing? Infographics almost seem like an advertisement selling themselves and not sources of information. I'm almost at the point of thinking that infographics are what not to do in infoviz. edit on the other hand, here's an infographic series he likes http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0002w4 http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0...

by gojomo 12y ago

theoh 12y ago

I think you're right to be frustrated. It feels like the main motivation for creating the infographics is to fill the books, not to communicate previously opaque information. He's not a very convincing person: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnpJQyDXjQ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnpJQyDXjQ4

bane 12y ago

I agree, I think one of the take-aways from Tufte is that everything you do to a visualization should have meaning. Don't just change the colors of different objects to make them pretty, use colors to reveal another dimension of data. I think more dangerously, and something that Tufte also warns about, is using visualizations to skew the data towards a biased point, and all the clutter in infographics seems to be more towards this end than actually discovering and showing patterns in data, and then using your visualization to inform the viewer of those patterns. Infographics are so edited and so commercialized, you'll notice many of them aren't even available in readable resolutions, but are helpfully for sale as $29.99 posters on the author's webpage. You know what sells? Shocking or contrary items. So why wouldn't an infographic author skew what they're showing? Infographics almost seem like an advertisement selling themselves and not sources of information. I'm almost at the point of thinking that infographics are what not to do in infoviz. edit on the other hand, here's an infographic series he likes http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0002w4 http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0...