Post 5

Continuing with Tufte, he gets into the specifics of how graphs should look with respect to their data. The first parameter he sets is the ratio of the amount of ink used for the data to the total amount of ink. Similar to his ratio for the lie factor, he believes a perfect graph should have a data ink ratio of 1. To edit the graph, he recommends you erase non-data ink, erase redundancy, and revise any further errors. His overall goal is to eliminate what he refers to as “chartjunk.” This “chartjunk” can consist of overpowering grids, lines close together that create an optical illusion, or anything else that clutters the data. I would argue that Tufte prunes down the graphs to excessive amounts. The examples that he provided of effectively edited graphics were almost completely bare, other than the data points. I am not sure how big of a role traditional graphics will play in my visualizations; however, understanding how to convey and interpret data will definitely be important.