Assignment 24: Design Theory (Tufte)

Three pieces of advice Tufte might give are to not use chart ducks, focus on the subject matter, and to not overdo charts with obnoxious colors, patterns, and fonts. Keeping it simple is best for getting your point across. Don’t include pictures of things completely unrelated to the data. Above all, the chart must be readable for the data to be useful! When using colors for different data sets, make sure they have a good contrast, so that if they’re printed in grayscale, the difference is still noticeable.

When making a business card, Tufte’s design advice can be applied. The whole purpose of business cards is to promote your business and give patrons the information necessary to support your business. For this reason, the card should be clear and concise, though lively enough to catch a possible customer’s attention. It’s a good idea to make a business card that’s legible and provides useful information. It’s a bad idea to have a business card with outrageous colors and unrelated pictures.

Edward Tufte's idea can be applied when designing a business card because, like a chart, you're trying to convey important information in a way thats easy for people to read and understand. Using too many bright colors and pictures can take away from thre purpose of the card and using all capital letters for the name of the company makes it harder for people to read and that's not good because that is the most important information on a business card.

Teresa Alvarez
November 11, 2008
Dig. Imaging


Edward Tufte

Three design principals are evaluating evidence used in presentations, complexity and clarity and credibility of presentations. Also, the three pieces of information that I would receive from Tufte about graphs are how to display data, how to have a high resolution display and how to use different colors on the graph.

Edward Tufte
Three pieces of advice Edward Tufte might give me when designing charts is first, use the x/y grid instead of a box that encloses the data. Second, do not use heavy grids. Third, to reduce clutter, avoid busy grids and boxes. Think about the data and not what the data is in.
Using the information found in my research, the same design ideas can relate to designing business card by not making them having pointless information and not being cluttered. By using Edward Tufte’s advice we can make more informational work show more of the information.




http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives/000831.php
http://www.washington.edu/computing/training/560/zz-tufte.html#Data%20Compression

Tuffty has always said to, (1).Bring what is important to the front of the page and make it noticeable, (2).Make the most important stuff at the top of the page and make them bigger, and(3).Don't wast ink on thick borders or un-needed lines.

A good card would to be to have a big tittle of the company and what they do under it.Also to have the phone,
and fax in bold, then E-Mail and their web address under the phone in smaller text.

A bad one, would be to have every thing bold, with thick borders, and all sections the same size text.

I believe that Tufte would tell me that , you must make sure that your information is clear . Make sure that when you are designing that you don't put to much art work in your chart that would take their eyes off the main ideal. And be sure
to be visual with he bars.

3 things that tufte would probably tell me to do with a graph would be to one, keep the insane details out to limit the distractions. make it blunt and to the point. two, use as little ink as possible and with alike color schemes so it's easier on the eyes and easier to depict what is trying to be said. three, include as much useful information possible. because whatever is trying to get across, obviously it's imporant if someone's going to spend time making a graph on it, but when it starts to include things that really are not that important, it gets too extreme, less interesting, and more irritating.

when relating it to bisuness cards, it's pretty much the same exact conecept, but without a graph. you want to make it look simple, and kind of plain in a way if you want to keep it simple. if you bisuness card is a neon color or something interesting, it might appeal to people, but the whole reason for the card might not be as clear. plus, bisuness cards never give out a huge ammount of information. just the bisuness, what they do, and all the contact details. that's all that people really need. that's the only think useful. so if you get into deeper things, then it's just going to be too much info for such a small device. and then it gets annoying.

Design theory:

I think if Tufte gave me three things of advice for my graphs it would be to make it easy to read. He would also say put an simple chart setting. He would also probably say use less ink, by like removing all unnecessary colors and lines that don’t need to be there.
These are good ideas to use on a business card because you want people to know who you are and what your business is all about. You don't need all the unnecessary color and lines that some people use. all you really need is a logo and information.

Well the first of advice he might give is make sure it is easy to read. Like you don't want it to bright, or have extra lines you don't need. Also bolding that isnt nessercary.Another piece of advice he might give is imformation is correct, because if its not correct then people get false infromation andget the wrong ideas.

Tufte might say to keep your information in an orderly fashion. Big fonts and unneeded decoration should be left out. Things that are bright and stand out that don't prove a point can be distracting to the chart reader. Next, Edward Tufte might tell you to make sure everything you are trying to cover gets across. Make sure your main concern focuses on the information and directing it to the audience instead of just making your chart pretty. The person who is reading the chart should gain information not try and not be focused on a design. The third thing he might give is if don't over do it. You can be formmal and stylish. Don't pile your chart up with ink. The only thing that should have the most ink is the font. Make your chart organized and easy to read. The extra print on the side doesn't need to be there. It is no purpose for it. Focus on getting your point across. Make a chart that states the facts of your topic and that readers could follow by without getting distracted.

Edward Tufte had three things of advice for my graphs that would help me make my cards so much easier to read. The first thing that i saw an simple setting for the charts. Next not to use so many different colors and colors that don't go together, and lines that don’t need to be there and not a lot of bold print only on the most important information. And one not to use the clip art to distract from the card.
These are good ideas to let people know who you are and what you do. You don't need somuch distraction all you need is the information.

Three pieces of advice that Edwad Tufte would give me for designing a chart would be, first to stay away from bright colors like yellow that would distract you from the information portrayed on the chart. He would also suggest that I use no intricate designs or pictures to "decorate" my chart. Things like pictures and drawings draw your attention away from the chart and make the data a little bit more difficult to read. He would also suggest that I use a simple chart setting.

Edward Tufte's advice and information can help when designing a business card. Much like a chart, you wouldn't want to use too bright of a color that would distract from the information on the business card. Also when it comes to a business card,you should use a reasonable font size. Nothing too big or too small. You should also make sure that your font is a legible style, like "Times New Roman" for example so that you can actually read the information on the business card. A good design for a business card would be, a card with a nice background color, a design that does not take away from the information, your logo and obviously the information of your business including the company name, the location and the contact information, all in a neat and readable font. A bad business card design would be a card with very large font that's messy and very difficult to read, numerous spelling errors and lots of bold, colorful patterns that take away from the information itself.