An Interview with Edward R. Tufte

Abstract

Widely read in many areas, including technical communication, Edward R. Tufte is arguably the preeminent authority on data and statistical visualization. His influential book, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (1983), appeared over two decades ago. Since then, two additional books, Envisioning Information (1990) and Visual Explanations (1997), along with a provocative, critical essay on Microsoft’s PowerPoint (2003) software, have established Tufte as one of the most visible of thinkers in a rapidly growing field. Although many may refer to this field as “information design,” Tufte, as he indicates in this interview, has come to prefer the name “analytic design.” That name reflects Tufte’s focus on visual displays that serve as evidence. Although much of his early work addressed statistical evidence reasoning, Tufte has since moved to the realm of visual evidence more broadly conceived. As he explained during the interview,