I love working with graphic designers. First off, they have a talent I completely lack. You describe what you want, then something beautiful comes out. That feels like magic to me. Second, they’re problem solvers. I solve communication problems with text. They solve them with graphics. The process is similar and the goals are similar,…
I hear it so often, it’s almost a cliché. “Wow, writing a book was way more work than I expected it to be.” I’ve almost given up on explaining why this is. Almost . . . but not quite. So if you want to know what unexpected work you really should have expected — and…
Once a book goes into the page layout stage, graphics cause way more problems than any other element. It’s like a horror story. Here’s an incomplete list of the things that can go wrong — and I’ve seen all of these happen: How to avoid these problems You could choose not to do graphics at…
You must always treat the reader’s time as more valuable than your own. That’s the Iron Imperative, and it’s just as valid for graphics as it is for text. If you find yourself endlessly fiddling with with an elaborate diagram, ask yourself, “Is this really helping?” Then get help from a decent graphic artist. When…
Republican Scott Walker won’t be governor of Wisconsin for much longer; Democrat Tony Evers beat him in the recent election. But in the lame duck session of the Wisconsin legislature, Republicans passed bills that will limit the the powers of the incoming governor. Walker used the world’s dumbest Venn diagram to explain why the bills aren’t…
I’m visiting Belgium. In Bruges, we stopped into Jilles Beer and Burgers — look, not every meal can be a gourmet experience — and found this on the last few pages of their little menu booklet. I’m sure the servers, sick of answering “Are there nuts in the Cheesy Nelson?” and a 300 other permutations,…
Bullshit gathers where lawyers and human resource people meet. But as Henry Ward, CEO of startup eShares, shows with the company’s offer letters, it doesn’t have to. Using the power of clarity, simplicity, and graphics — eShares is welcoming new hires — and it’s probably getting a lot more of them to say “Yes.” Ward published a sample…
Tumblr user bisexual-legislature posted an emoji each few moments about their emotions on a flight from Toronto — one that had plenty of turbulence. Text and graphics are no longer distinct. You can “read” this just as easily as any other story — and it transcends language differences. It’s the natural extension of Edward Tufte’s…