Edward Tufte Quotes

Architects have made architecture too complex. We need to simplify it and use a language that everyone can understand.

I like to keep things classic, not lavish or blinged out. I don't even say that word. The last thing I want to be is over the top.

Design should be easy in the sense that every step should be obviously and clearly identifiable. Simplify elements to make change simple so you can manage the technical risk.

I love white, I love black. For me, sometimes, it's nice to play with colors, but when you're too busy to think and you've got so much in your mind, sometimes all you need is a bare uniform.

I've been working on a graphic about carbon emissions. It's an incredibly simple graphic - a bunch of blocks and a table below it - but it's taken me three weeks to design. For some reason it just wasn't working. Then finally I realized there was a number present, which I was rendering in each version, that wasn't necessary for the understanding of the piece. This figure was getting in the way and distracting from the main flow of the narrative. As soon as I pulled that graphic out of the design, it sprang into focus. Suddenly it worked.

Good design is a lot like clear thinking made visual.

Dont confuse legibility with communication. Just because something is legible doesnt mean it communicates and, more importantly, doesnt mean it communicates the right thing.

Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information.

Simplicity and naturalness are the truest marks of distinction.

Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible.

A SEEING eye is better than three hundred blind men's: The eye can distinguish pearls from pebbles.

It's not movies and it's not "fine art." The beauty of a comic is that it's clear, direct communication. My work is getting simpler and more cartoony because I'm much more interested in communication now than in any illustrative value.

Complexity is the enemy of clarity

The future of computer power is pure simplicity.

Don't forget that everything you deal with is only one thing and nothing else.

Elegance must be the right combination of distinction, naturalness, care and simplicity. Outside this, believe me, there is no elegance. Only pretension.

Straight lines vary only in length, and therefore are least ornamental.

Keep it simple: In general, interfaces should use simple geometric forms, minimal contours, and a restricted color palette comprised primarily of less-saturated or neutral colors balanced with a few high contrast accent colors that emphasize important information. Typography should not vary widely in an interface.

The famous Florentine elegance, which attracts tourists to the shops on Via Tornabuoni and Via della Vigna Nuova, is characterized by austerity of line, simplicity, economy of effect.

Simplicity is complexity resolved

"Simple" is a tricky word, it can mean a lot of things. To us, it just means clear. That doesn't always mean total reduction, or minimalism - sometimes, to make things clearer, you have to add a step.

Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.

There's an applied style of being minimal and simple, and then there's real simplicity. This looks simple, because it really is.

When a young man, I read somewhere the following: God the Almighty said, 'All that is too complex is unnecessary, and it is simple that is needed.' So this has been my lifetime motto – I have been creating weapons to defend the borders of my fatherland, to be simple and reliable.

Good design means as little design as possible.