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Envisioning Information

4.24 of 5 stars 4.24 · rating details · 2,412 ratings · 113 reviews

The celebrated design professor here tackles the question of how best to communicate real-life experience in a two-degree format, whether on the printed page or the computer screen. The Whole Earth Review called Envisioning Information a "passionate, elegant revelation."

Hardcover, First edition 3rd printing with revisions, 126 pages

Published December 1992 by Graphics Press (first published May 1990)

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The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman

Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell

Sketching User Experiences by Bill Buxton

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11th out of 44 books — 37 voters

Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte

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Jun 18, 2012 Eric Phetteplace rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: designers, statisticians, anyone who has to present data

Shelves: lis-web

While this work is full of brilliant principles & illuminating examples, the prose itself is incredibly disconnected. You can tell that Tufte designed the book page by page & not section by section, or even chapter by chapter. On the one hand, that means that the layouts are often excellent, but on the other merely flipping a page can be a jarring experience as the preceding paragraph fails to relate to the present one. A few times, I even had difficulty telling that the chapter had chan...more

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Aug 28, 2010 Roger Wood rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: design-architecture, brand-design-statistics

The book led was one of the most enlightening books that I've every read. I've always had a penchant for using numbers, images, and heuristics to explain, and began taking Edward Tufte's courses when the opportunity arose, starting in 1998. He held them in hotel ballrooms throughout the United States, and his followers attended with cult-like repetition, sometimes registering for the same course 6 times in one year.

Edward Tufte is one of the most elegant designers of information alive today, the...more

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Apr 12, 2009 Bruce rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: absolutely no one whatsoever

This makes the third and last of Edward Tufte's books I have (and most likely, will ever) read. I hear he's working on a fifth, but I can't really see the point. He just doesn't seem to have anything new to say. Per my earlier reviews, I found his first book (especially the first 50 pages, which contain almost all the content) to be terrific. His third, a bit lame. This one (the shortest of the three) is simply a confounding, rambling disaster.

I have three reasons to offer here. First, he contin...more This makes the third and last of Edward Tufte's books I have (and most likely, will ever) read. I hear he's working on a fifth, but I can't really see the point. He just doesn't seem to have anything new to say. Per my earlier reviews, I found his first book (especially the first 50 pages, which contain almost all the content) to be terrific. His third, a bit lame. This one (the shortest of the three) is simply a confounding, rambling disaster.

I have three reasons to offer here. First, he continues to repeat his graphic design examples. Hello? Been there, read that, and frankly, the third time is not remotely charming.

Second, this one sentence-paragraph from page 50, which I was simply stunned to find in a published (even a self-published) work:

We thrive in information-thick worlds because of our marvelous and everyday capacities to select, edit, single out, structure, highlight, group, pair, merge, harmonize, synthesize, focus, organize, condense, reduce, boil down, choose, categorized, catalog, classify, list, abstract, scan, look into, idealize, isolate, discriminate, distinguish, screen, pigeonhole, pick over, sort, integrate, blend, inspect, filter, lump, skip, smooth, chunk, average, approximate, cluster, aggregate, outline, summarize, itemize, review, dip into, flip through, browse, glance into, leaf through, skim, refine, enumerate, glean, synopsize, winnow the wheat from the chaff, and separate the sheep from the goats.

Well, now that I’ve met the author’s thesaurus, I’d appreciate him looking up the word “irony.”

Third, this book reveals Tufte’s bizarre obsession with train schedules. The cover of his first book touted one of these visually impenetrable (and dull) examples, noteworthy for the date of its creation (sometime in the 19th century), its compression of a myriad of daily destinations, arrivals, and departures into a single image, and (I think) the fact that it’s French. Fine, so noted. But fully 1/10 of his second book is devoted to other train schedules (that’s merely by page count, in fact Tufte devotes 1 of 7 chapters to this). Scattered throughout this book are (by my count) 23 different train timetables, of which 6 are stylistically identical to the early French example that decorated his first work. Cumulatively, this significantly undermines the impact of any individual example, to say nothing of his point about using quality graphics to impart a density of information.

Not that there aren’t great moments in this volume: analyses of the effectiveness of the Vietnam War Memorial (and Maya Lin’s stalwart adherence to her vision in the face of initial bureaucratic “improvers”), the reproduction of a two-page essay by Calvin Tomkins which deconstructs Roy Lichtenstein’s Mural with Blue Brushstroke (a work which will be repeated in Tufte’s third book, albeit to make a new point about revelation of scale), and the harrowing reproduction of David Hellerstein’s Harper’s visual essay, “The Slow, Costly Death of Mrs. K____” to name but three. And Tufte is to be commended for self-publishing his books on graphical integrity so he can assure that his own work exemplifies his ideals for communication and graphic-to-text information density. I grant him his well-deserved chops and reputation based if nothing else on the influence and excellence demonstrated in his first book. Still, this book and its successor are evidence that even self-published visionaries are in need of a good editor.(less)

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Apr 18, 2007 Mister rated it 3 of 5 stars

A helpful marketing guide on how to write, draw and give lectures in regards to descriptions of meaningful figures and diagrams that piques both the audience's retina as well as their neural cells where information is swallowed and later dissolved into their jugular veins where internally the audience can know what is being described in their own words and understanding :)

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Jan 08, 2012 Laurian rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Tom panning

Shelves: ux

This is the second book that was picked for the UX book club at work.

I've only seriously read two of Tufte's books. I've skimmed the other two and his pamphlets and taking bits and pieces from them that were convenient for what I was looking for. So when Tufte was brought up in the book club I was happy to push for this one that I hadn't had a chance to read as thoroughly as I would have liked.

Information is just about the cornerstone of the work that I do. The people I design software for have...more

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Nov 23, 2012 Benjamin rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book. It is full of good ideas that are cleanly and simply presented. What is more, it always enjoyable to observe the work of someone who takes careful and critical pride in their efforts. Occasionally, content that struck me as more a matter of taste was presented as ironclad rules, but this was rare and, sometimes, explicitly acknowledged by Tufte.

On a side note, twenty years after the book was written, one can not help but consider that many more graphics are now automatically...more

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May 06, 2013 Martyn Lovell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Envisioning Information is the Tufte's second volume on visual information design. Like the first it is beautifully presented, full of great examples of good and bad style and written clearly and concisely.

The best parts of the book are the analyses of bad design, and the examples of transforming that to better design. Tufte's principles come through most clearly and effectively when he does this. He draws his examples from a bewilderingly broad range of sources - he has a truly impressive colle...more

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Apr 13, 2007 TK Keanini rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: design, representation

If you can't present data in a way that communicates your thoughts or the emergent information, there is no reason to present the data. This book and other Tufte books are fundamental.

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Mar 20, 2012 Eric rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a classic work in the field of information design. Today, you will more often hear the phrase “information visualization” (aka, infovis) to describe the act of representing abstract data in a visual format. The goal is to make the data more accessible to a human, allowing them to gain insights from the information.

The book was written in 1990 and lacks any description of information design for the web save for a few descriptions of color and graphical interfaces. Instead, Tufte focuses o...more This is a classic work in the field of information design. Today, you will more often hear the phrase “information visualization” (aka, infovis) to describe the act of representing abstract data in a visual format. The goal is to make the data more accessible to a human, allowing them to gain insights from the information.

The book was written in 1990 and lacks any description of information design for the web save for a few descriptions of color and graphical interfaces. Instead, Tufte focuses on “flatland,” the static, flat world of paper. His exploration of how people “represent the rich visual world of experience and measurement on mere flatland” ranges across time and space to bring examples of both good and bad designs.

The first chapter, Escaping Flatland, should be a quick introduction to the topic that invites the reader in to the work. It doesn’t quite work that way, though, due mainly to Tufte’s technical language and his quick transitions of topics and examples. In the first six pages alone he jumps from a Japanese shrine map, the shed skin of a toad, alternate designs for the periodic table, examples of three-dimensional representation, orreries, and stereoscopic images. You can tell Tufte is passionate about the topic and the first chapter is full of that excitement.

Luckily, the remaining chapters are calmer and more direct. He discusses Micro/Macro Readings next, then Layering and Separation, Small Multiples, Color and Information, and finally Narratives of Space and Time. Each chapter is an interesting examination of one aspect of information design. Examples range from Galileo’s notebooks, to train schedules, to modern art, to dance instructions. It all makes for a very stimulating read that can keep most anyone’s interest.

This is an excellent book to learn about how our design choices affect the wider world. It can be especially useful for anyone tasked with role of transforming information into visual displays like PowerPoint slides or reports.(less)

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Jun 22, 2009 Spencer rated it 4 of 5 stars

you know, this was good. tufte is really surprising in the things he considers to be good design. what it really comes down to for him is density in the display. if you can find a way to stuff five or 6 variables into a graph, no matter how ugly it is, he'll love it. but then again, he offers some really practical advice for everyday excellers -- for example, stop using so many grids, skip the vertical lines, don't crowd, don't repeat labels unnecessarily, and so on. but he spills too far someti...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Curtis Newbold rated it 4 of 5 stars

Just read this book again after about three years. The book is a classic--one all designers, communicators, scientists, and those interested in visual communication should be required to read. Tufte makes really beautiful books that are thought-provoking and insightful. It's easy to disagree with some of his over-the-top arguments (like "the principles of information design are universal--like mathematics--and are not tied to unique features of a particular language or culture") but that doesn't...more

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Aug 16, 2010 Roy rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who has to make a presentation.

Recommended to Roy by: many designers

Written in a dense academic style, Tufte’s books are a must read for anyone who wants to explain dense information, visually. For visual people (like so many underpaid designers) this is the best way to communicate with high-up decisions-makers and the regular man on the street. We designers should avoid, well, words, because we’re not very good with them, and so stranded from the traditional mode of communication, we must hone our skills of illustrating information.

One thing I really appreciate...more Written in a dense academic style, Tufte’s books are a must read for anyone who wants to explain dense information, visually. For visual people (like so many underpaid designers) this is the best way to communicate with high-up decisions-makers and the regular man on the street. We designers should avoid, well, words, because we’re not very good with them, and so stranded from the traditional mode of communication, we must hone our skills of illustrating information.

One thing I really appreciate about Envisioning Information, is that the man practiced what he preached. Often, Tufte tells the reader that information must be explained in one “scope of the eyespan” and each of his examples is laid out on one page, or one spread. By utilizing one of his main tenants, the book fires through a lot of examples, rather than dwelling on an idea. Each turn of the page brings another example or idea.

The visuals Tufte has chosen are not simple. They are deep, multi-layered and textured. One of the points that I will take away from this book is that sometimes texture, the shape of information can be just as important as the words, numbers and pictures that are shown. There is a very powerful example of a bus schedule in the middle of the book. Like over graphics, this one is made of dozens, if not hundreds of numbers, but Tufte shows that it is possible to understand this chart from the macro-level, before you even delve into the lower-levels of specific information. It is almost like reading a book, but not the words, just the shape of the paragraphs. Curious, really.

Tufte uses evocative and varied examples that are elegant and well thought out, so much so that I began to wonder how I could possibly make an excel spreadsheet into something so clear and precise. Ultimately, that is the game Tufte is trying to explain, and I imagine it takes more than reading one short, well illustrated book to learn to play. I am not yet free of the tyranny of the bad graph or boring PowerPoint slide, but I think, after reading this book a few more times, and diving into his others, that maybe someday I too will be able to show rather than tell, and convince people with something more powerful than well-written words or powerful image, but a well composed, layered, concise, dense graphic.
(less)

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Jul 31, 2012 Manolo Frias rated it 4 of 5 stars

Many of the ideas in this book have made me think hard. For example, the rather unconventional concept of "to clarify add detail" which is maybe difficult to grasp without reading the whole chapter "micro/macro readings".

The chapter about colour is of special relevance for me since it can be applied specially to maps. It starts with an obvious statement which is usually forgotten: "above all, do no harm".

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Dec 12, 2010 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book! The scope seems to be more broad than The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. It contained perhaps just one too many train schedule examples for my liking but I really appreciate the thought Edward Tufte has put into this subject. As a software developer for a company focused on UX, the tidbits on display for a computer interface were particularly interesting.

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Mar 18, 2009 Matthew rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've admired Tufte's teachings on presenting information. In the corporate world of PowerPoint, that power is often abused. Information is lost in a sea of words and bad graphics (or the lack thereof). This particular book of Tufte's is a bit dry and academic, but it makes for good reference. I'm adding his latest book to my to-read list as I've heard it's a little easier to absorb.

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Dec 13, 2008 Andrea rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone in the field of information design

A must-read for anyone in the field of information design, not to mention a refreshing counterpoint to the PowerPoint credo of our day. Envisioning Information is a visually sumptuous book with page after page of remarkable examples through history of multi-dimensional data adroitly transcribed to the 2D surface (a.k.a. flatland).

As a series, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Envisioning Information and Visual Explanations largely cover the same material - some illustrations are ev...more

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Oct 26, 2010 Ben Wood rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: work

This book, combined with Godin's inspiring Linchpin, helped me on a recent project to go the extra mile and create "art" rather than just more "chartjunk". As an avid hiker, the section on using colors found in nature and beautiful series of photos of an aspen grove at different times of the year (p. 90) inspired me to toss the garish color scheme that is the default in Microsoft Excel and experiment until I found a much more "natural" scheme. It made all the difference.

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Jan 29, 2012 Mike added it

Shelves: not-graphic-novels

Kinda dull - for a book touting the amazing power of visualising information, the presentation is amazingly lacklustre and disorganised feeling.

I'd encountered Tufte in a number of 'recommended reading' lists for User Experience/Information Design, so I gave his two most popular books a quick spin. Found them both poorly designed and not at all engaging enough to make me want to sit down and read it straight through. I flipped through to get a sense of what he considered the pinnacle of good inf...more

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Aug 08, 2010 Matt Swaffer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: hci, favorites

Envisioning Information is very similar to another of Tuft's books I read, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Envisioning Information doesn't focus as much on the display of data per se but rather broadens the scope to include all types of information. As you would expect with a book on such a topic, this one is a visually pleasing experience. The included graphs, maps and pictures along with the anecdotal evidence for Tufte's conclusions made this an enjoyable read.

Read more at...
h ...more

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May 19, 2010 Sean Billy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who works with the visual representation of information. The book itself is beautiful, the writing is clear, and the drawings work seamlessly to create a comprehensive understanding of different categories of information. I look forward to reading more Edward Tufte.

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Aug 20, 2007 Vincent rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: designers, mathematicians, statisticians, and executive educators

Overall, I loved the book. Edward Tufte has a way of teaching us why its very important to think about how information interacts with the reader. He gives concrete examples of what and what not to do. He illustrates his theories with.. well.. illustrations.

The book is great, until the end, where he departs from teaching by example method and starts to speculate on the future of envisioning information. I hoped that his analysis in the latter portion of the book would be more insightful and forwa...more

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Oct 05, 2010 Alice rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I love the examples in this book. Unfortunately, a lot of the ideas cannot be easily done using standard software available in my office. Oh the luxury of having you own printing press! But, I'm sure some of the ideas will help me in my work.

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Jan 11, 2012 Caitlin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Honestly, I nearly didn't make it through this book because the style (brief staccato descriptions of different visual displays of information) wasn't what I expected initially. But I'm glad I soldiered on because there were many great examples of color, layering, grapheme, and spatial usage in there.

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May 04, 2010 Murray rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-design-typography-info-grap

My fave of the 'original Tufte trilogy'. Awesome concepts around representing information in clear, truthful, and accurate ways. A lot of focus on map-based graphics, but concepts are applicable to other types as well. Sometimes a bit of high-and-mighty writing, but it's still eye-opening.

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Jan 05, 2009 Andreas rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great book about how to visualize data in an efficient way. The examples make the book very interesting and inspiring but I am missing some practical examples to be able to come up with similar graphics.

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Nov 07, 2011 Esteban Manchado rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great book on presenting information. It's relatively short, but requires more attention and time per page than most books due to the discussion of subtleties and details of diagrams, maps, charts, etc. Every double page has at least one diagram that is discussed in the text in that same page. In particular, the comparisons between an original, bad design and an improved version are very illustrative and inspiring.

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Jun 13, 2012 Charles rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have read this book before but I bought my own copy (an almost perfect 2nd hand edition)
from Abebooks so I can read again and add to my library. This books is definitely a keeper.

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Feb 04, 2013 Camille rated it 4 of 5 stars

Delightful and delightfully reasoned. The only reason I didn't rate it 5 stars is because I don't know enough to understand all of it and/or need to go back and review it.

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Nov 11, 2012 Erik rated it 4 of 5 stars

I need specific ideas for how to represent specific things. This book doesn't do that. It's a wonderful primer in visual design, but I'm still looking for something more concrete.

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Aug 07, 2010 Rohit Raut rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

This book is filled with amazing ways of presenting complex, often intimidating information in a simple, two-dimensional form that is easily understandable and better to draw conclusions from.

But that isn't the lasting message that you'll carry from this one. Often, as this book will show you - our problems exist chiefly inside our heads.

An excellent and entertaining read for anyone who is interested in statistics or information representation.

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About Edward R. Tufte

Edward Rolf Tufte (born 1942 in Kansas City, Missouri to Virginia and Edward E. Tufte), a professor emeritus of statistics, graphic design, and political economy at Yale University has been described by The New York Times as "the Leonardo da Vinci of Data". He is an expert in the presentation of informational graphics such as charts and diagrams, and is a fellow of the American Statistical Associa...more

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Books by Edward R. Tufte

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within

Visual and Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Decision Making

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Quotes from Envisioning Information

“What about confusing clutter? Information overload? Doesn't data have to be "boiled down" and "simplified"? These common questions miss the point, for the quantity of detail is an issue completely separate from the difficulty of reading. Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information.” — 9 people liked it

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