GS and KF ding-dong:> Since you have read more of his writing than I have, would YOU care
> to tell me what he might have meant by "graphic design principles"?
My comment on this, having studied and taught "data graphics" for some
years, is that there are several books by "gurus" (perhaps the most
widely known being Ed Tufte). The problem with gurus is that they
attract disciples who like to treat each comment as law. In contrast,
any *design* problem needs to be approached with the benefit of
principles, guidelines and rules of thumb, but *not* with formulaic rules.
Fixed and absolute rules that are laid down, as GS seems to request, can
be misinterpreted or misapplied. Hence, in my teaching I do try to
extract "rules" from various texts, but mainly to demonstrate that
different authors may have conflicting rules. I then try to get students
to understand how a particular rule was derived, and hence what it
implies or assumes.
For example, must a graph always include zero on the axis? Some books say
yes, some say yes but allow a discontinuous (break in the) axis. Some do
not make a ruling. (I'll leave that one as an exercise for the reader ;-)
A simple example of a misapplied rule was the artist who had heard "if
the figures are percentages, you can use a pie-chart." The resulting,
published, pie chart was composed of "the percentage unemployed in this
county and in neighbouring areas."
R. Allan Reese Email: [log in to unmask]
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