Assignment 24: Design Theory (Tufte)

Part I:
Research Edward Tufte online. (We talked about him during class). Write about three design principles from your research. What are three pieces of advice Tufte might give you if you are designing charts?

Make sure to spell check, and cite your sources. (Don’t copy/paste from the web for this assignment – remember the rules about plagiarizing.)

Part II:
Using the information you found in your research (or remembered from class), describe how these same design ideas can relate to designing business cards. What would be good design for a business card, what would be bad design for a business card? (Include at least 2 ideas.)

Grading:
5 points total.

3 points for Part I
2 points for Part II

Edward Tufte
Three pieces of advice Edward Tufte might give to someone making a chart is. First to use a chart setting that is simple and easy to put the information, so it can be understood. So no grids, no crazy colors that will remove from the graph. When you putting a chart together. Take away all unnecessary colors and lines that would detract from the information being charted. Tufte thinks that if there is ink on the page it should be contributing to the information. Third, be able to chart large amounts of information in a clean and simple way.

First, Tufte would probably say to keep your information as presentable as possible. Fancy colors, backgrounds, or crazy fonts are unnecessary and can be distracting. If you need to use something to make it less “boring,” make sure it can contribute to the statistics or information on the chart. Next, Edward Tufte might tell you to make sure everything you are showing is “visually legible.” In other words, make sure you aren’t just making your chart pretty. The point you are trying to get across should be obvious and the reader or viewer should be learning. A third piece of advice he might give, is, if there is ink on the page, it should be used as information. Mainly what he is trying to get across is, don’t put any extra junk on your chart that can sidetrack from the real information.

1.Eliminate the Nonessential
2.Emphasize the Important / Deemphasize the Less Important
3.Use Color Strategically
These things are related to the business card because you want people to know who you are. So it wouldn’t be such a good idea to put up random stuff. Also you would use a good choice of color to make sure that people know what is important on the card and what isn’t by color contrast.

Part One

Edwart Tufte

Edwart Tufte would tell us to make out charts look nice to be presentable. Another thing he might say is that don't have unnecessary ink on the chart. The third think he might say is that you might have to chart large amounts.

Part Two

Business Cards

You could make a nice business card by having your name, address (maybe) E-Mail address, number, Fax, a photo or a photo of your business.

you could make a bad photo by have unnecessary ink everywhere. you could have a totally random photo that had nothing to do with you or your business. you could put the wrong number and address.

What are the three pieces of advice that Tufte might give you if you are designing charts?


The three pieces of advice that Tufte would a give a person who is making a chart .do not add a lot of wild colors , if you add a lot of wild colors the information that you have on the card will be unseen because the people wouldn’t be able to see it ,and no dark grindlines , make sure you make the information where people can see it. I think that Edward Tufte would tell you to also make sure that your chart is presentable .





To make a good business card you have to always include your name , address, phone number and email address but, most all make sure that the business that you are trying to get out there is put out so people can see it because you want people to see your business . Also put your name on the card so they can know who business it is , make sure you add the lines up and add a design but not an outrageous design.


To make a bad business card you would need to have all the information that is required will small , don’t have lots of things that doesn’t belong on there like the zip code , the time the store or the business close, Don’t have big colors on the card.

Three pieces of advice that Edward Tufte might give us would probably be:
1) To not us Microsoft PowerPoint because of how easy it is to make the presentation. He doesn’t like anything about it. Some things he does not like are the really simple graphs and charts. The simple graphs and charts are simple because the resolution is so low. The PowerPoint’s graph layout and typography are not that great. That would be some advice from Edward Tufte.
2) He would also consider using sparklines. He is the one who made these lines. They are an easy way to present anything you may need to present like stock market to population. They are used as a small multiple and usually have more that one line together.
3) He might also say to use illustrations to illustrate what you graphed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Tufte
Considering Tufte’s advice I would not make a business card busy. I wouldn’t add too much color to it. I would have it really calm, but yet make it appealing. I would use something to illustrate what the business was about, I would not have just all words.

Tufte’s “motto” is simplicity of design and complexity and truth of data. So he might suggest that you: Not use heavy lines or grids. Take away any unnecessary information or lines that are going to distract from your chart. He might tell you too make labels as small a possible to keep it simply and easy to read, also accurate representation of all information. Convey data as straight forward and clear cut as you can.
These ideas are all good ones to put towards a business card, you want to have the card simple, but still give a enough information. A good design would have a color scheme. A bad design would be hard to read and maybe have just a selection of a bunch of random colors, that didn't match.

Tufte might give you suggestions as dont use bond lettes and don't
underline and thing but thats what the people going to focus on
not on the graph meaning ,he might also suggest don't use a lot
of pictures because it might side trac the reader.

First, the information presented must be valid. No matter how spiffy the graph is, if the facts are lousy it will be too. Colors should be used in moderation, as too many of them can make the presentation confusing, negating the entire value of the thing. The structure of the chart must present data in a way that does make it clear as the focus of the chart. All non-informative aspects of the chart (graphics and such) must be used with frugality, as they are beneficial only so long as they serve to clarify the information. This sort of to the point design that Tufte promotes is great for business cards, where there is not much room to mess about, and will greatly suit the potential and purpose of the card. With such techniques, one may clearly, briefly and agreeably present important information the use of much space.

Edward tufte was a good graph designer he made sure no matter what he did to the graph all of the information was shown. If u is making a graph format it is best to take as much color that’s not informational off the graph because all u are really trying to show is informational and if something is taking away from it it’s not good. There are three things that can go wrong with a graph that is giving out information, one of the thing are color, pictures, and, the information.

On your graph there can’t be any kind of pictures because that takes away from the graph. You never want to make anything stand out more then what suppose to be shown. Also when you are using numbers on your graph try not to make the numbers so big or change the text because you want be able to read them or who eve is reading it. You would also be able to use this information when it comes to business cards because if u use color try to use on the most important information. This is following some of Edward Tufte rules.

If you were designing charts, Edward Tufte would probably tell you to “tell a story” within your chart. Use pictures relating to the theme. Don’t make it real obvious, make the looker think and put things together.
He may also tell you to use a lot of color. Use the most color where you want the attention directed. It will grab the attention to make the point. Don’t put the most and bright color on the areas that are pointless, it’s a waste of ink and you don’t want the lookers’ attention to be on the useless things.
Another thing me may suggest is with the color u do use, have it be bold and/or bright. It will grab the lookers’ eye and have them interested.
A good idea for a business card would be having your main thing, such as title/ name of the business be really big. Also, i wouldn't you a dark background and then use a dark colored font. Same with light colors. Another good thing is to have white space, maybe to separate things. Last but not least it would be good to have a logo.
A bad idea for a business card would be to use dark colored font with a dark colored background or a light colored font with a light colored background. It should look as neat as possible but get the main idea out. Writing should be evenly spaced ect.

yo yo yo
E.T., he ain’t no alien
doin’ bad graphs is so degradin’
so yo, you do what he says
n’ you can make somethin’
that actually makes sense
Tufte says, use yo’ head

no clip art should be on yo’ chart
cause clip art makes him want to barf
it takes away from the info
and that stuff you tryin’ to display
E.T., he ain’t messin’ around,
Don’t add no clip art he’ll take you down

E.T. says, keep it simple
Like a B Ball that you dribble
I’m tellin’ you, this is what you gotta do
Don’t use no crazy colors
Use plain ones, and no others

Tufte says, use yo’ head
or else just stay in yo’ bed
don’t put words in all caps
just listen to this rap
MY RHYMES ARE SO COOL
this is what you don’t want to do
see, it’s hard to read,
yo’ eyes have certain needs

E.T., he ain’t no alien
doin’ bad graphs is so degradin’
so yo, you do what he says
n’ you can make somethin’
that actually makes sense

One piece of advice Edward Tufte would provide to people about designing charts would be to use as little ink as possible. By this he means to only emphasize on the focal point. Another piece of advice would be to not use different fonts and colors to represent your data. The variety of colors and fonts in a graph make it too pretty to focus on the piece of data being recognized. A third piece of advice would probably be to use the information correctly in the graph. Use different colors to represent different bars or lines if needed and put the correct labels on the graph.
In making business cards, Tufte would suggest that you should not use bright colored text on a bright colored background. This way, the text is illegible and hurts the reader's eyes. The size and spacing on a card is also very important according to Tufte. He would say that the text should not only fit on the card, but the most important details be larger than the lesser important information. There should be some sort of logo or pattern to represent your company along with an appropriate colour scheme.

The advice that Tufte might give people about making a chart, is to make sure that you do your best.
Tufte would also want people to look up the information first before starting the project. If the information is not all found, he would probably want us to throw in our own thoughts and opinions.
The last idea he would give us is to not go overboard, but to make sure that our charts are showing enough information and to have fun in the process of working on them.