Good design is a lot like clear thinking made visual.
The essential test of design is how well it assists the understanding of the content, not how stylish it is.
Confusion and clutter are failures of design, not attributes of information. And so the point is to find design strategies that reveal detail and complexity - rather than to fault the data for an excess of complication. Or, worse, to fault viewers for a lack of understanding.
Simple design, intense content.
What is to be sought in designs for the display of information is the clear portrayal of complexity. Not the complication of the simple; rather the task of the designer is to give visual access to the subtle and the difficult - that is, revelation of the complex.
Good design is clear thinking made visible, bad design is stupidity made visible
Design isn't crafting a beautiful, textured button with breathtaking animation. It's figuring out if there's a way to get rid of the button altogether.
Design cannot rescue failed content.
The commonality between science and art is in trying to see profoundly - to develop strategies of seeing and showing.
There is no such thing as information overload, just bad design. If something is cluttered and/or confusing, fix your design.
Clutter is not a property of information. Clutter is a failure of design.
If your words aren't truthful, the finest optically letter-spaced typography won't help.
Beautiful Evidence is about the theory and practice of analytical design.
A metaphor for good information design is a map. Hold any diagram against a map and see how it compares.
Great design is not democratic; it comes from great designers. If the standard is lousy, then develop another standard.
Here's the general theory: To clarify, add detail. Imagine that. To clarify, add detail. And clutter and overload are not an attribute of information, they are failures of design. If the information is in chaos, don't start throwing out information, instead fix the design.
If there is a well thought-out design standard, it should be followed. In practice, great design comes from great designers. That is empirically the case. If a great designer did a first-rate standard, that model should be followed. Great design is not democratic; it comes from great designers. If the standard is lousy, then develop another standard.
Allowing artist-illustrators to control the design and content of statistical graphics is almost like allowing typographers to control the content, style, and editing of prose.
Clutter is not an attribute of information, clutter is a failure of design...fix the design rather than stripping all the detail out of the map.
