Envisioning Information, Chapter 6 - Edward Tufte

Tufte really highlighted the omnipresence of the dimension of time within information design through the many examples of timetable designs that he provided. I was especially interested in the New York to New Haven train timetable example: immediately when I saw it, I thought about how it could be redesigned into two columns for weekdays and weekends/holidays, so that the times within one day could all be aligned and the viewer’s eye would not have to awkwardly transition from one column to the next to find the right time. It was cool to see this idea within the redesign on the next page. (I also appreciated his comment that the biggest issue is that the duration of this train journey is still the same as it was 70 years ago.)

It was really cool to see the examples side by side of the collegiate rowing contests “bump charts” and of the timetable of Wagner’s operas from writing of text and music to first performance — the visual similarity was striking, despite being timetables with completely different contents.