Sublime

• Focus on design, UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) – the best, most popular applications are simple, effective and look good.

Much of the data visualization that bombards us today is decoration at best, and distraction or even disinformation at worst. The decorative function is surprisingly common, perhaps because the data visualization teams of many media organizations are part of the art departments. They are led by people whose skills and experience are not in statisti

An ongoing useful role for governments is the creation of standardized units to make comparisons easier for consumers.

Even if it’s only a brief section, finding some way to reduce its word count by 50 percent will double its value-per-page, and your reader will receive twice as many insights per minute of their time. That’s a big deal.

But the most effective visual presentations are clear, concise, and even terse.

But what happens when your advertising says, “Our product is better”? What does the reader, the viewer, or the listener to the advertisement really think when you make the claim that you produce a better product? “That’s what they all say.” Pick up a copy of any magazine or newspaper and flip through the advertisements. Almost every ad makes some t

The idea is that the average consumer will not notice if the new package they buy has slightly fewer units or fewer ounces than the package they used to buy, as long as the price is the same.

group items such as text or images in small boxes or small blocks on the web page for easy scanning. Use small text headlines for each block—if appropriate—so the eye can easily scan your site pages without getting confused with

A hallmark of true expertise and insight is making a complex subject understandable. A hallmark of mediocrity and bad strategy is unnecessary complexity—a flurry of fluff masking an absence of substance.