Katy Dickinson

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http://blogs.sun.com/katysblog/date/20081217 Wednesday December 17, 2008

Tufte, Euclid, and Galileo

My husband, John Plocher, and I attended Dr. Edward Tufte's "Presenting Data and Information" class last week. Also with us was Dr. Danny Cohen of Sun Labs. Tufte is Professor Emeritus at Yale University, where he taught courses in statistical evidence, information design, and interface design.

I first took Tufte's excellent touring class around 1990, after he had published his second book. Now, there are four in his self-published Graphics Press series:

    • The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition, 2001
    • Envisioning Information 1990
    • Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative, 1997
    • Beautiful Evidence, 2006

One of the highlights of the one-day class was Tufte walking around showing ancient printed first editions of works by Euclid (c. 300 BC) and Galileo (1564-1642) to demonstrate good design and production. Tufte is the rock star of visual information design. I highly recommend his class to anyone for whom graphic display of quantitative information is important. Photos:

Katy and Danny
Katy Dickinson and Danny Cohen at Edward Tufte class photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson 		Tufte and Euclid
Edward Tufte and Euclid first edition book photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson 		Tufte talking with the audience
Edward Tufte talking with the audience photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
John with Galileo on the screen
John with Galileo on the screen at Edward Tufte class photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson 		Tufte and Galileo
Edward Tufte and Galileo first edition book photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson 		Tufte and Galileo
Edward Tufte and Galileo first edition book photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 04:05PM Dec 17, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  |