informationists

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(after)

EDWARD TUFTE
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Tufte studied statistics at Stanford, got his doctorate in political science at Yale, and had a public-policy professorship at Princeton. And his long roster of impressive accomplishments is not for nothing. Tufte is a statistician that has practically perfected the art of displaying information graphics with clear, data-rich graphics. He has written numerous books teaching and explaining the discipline of visually making data much more meaningful than statistics and numbers. One mantra, almost seemingly oxymoronic: To clarify, add detail. He encourages designers to make use of the higher and higher resolutions possible in print and digital, and readers to not feel rushed in working through a graphic's meaning.

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NIGEL HOLMES
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Holmes is a British graphic designer, graduated from the Royal College of Art, that especially specializes in information graphics and illustrations. His work is a lot more playful and colorful than Tufte's, but in this way more easily accessible and simpler. He also approaches the field of motion graphics and successfully makes comparisons clear for the viewer to understand.

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RICHARD SAUL WURMAN
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Wurman is an American architect and graphic designer that also specializes in making information clear. In 1984 he founded the TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) Conference, which meets annually and has lectures addressing science, arts, design, politics, culture, business, global issues, technology, and entertainment. He believes that we are inundated daily with information yet have few reliable methods of organizing and interpreting stark data, and thus coined the term information architect as a way to systematically comprehend.

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Tufte approaches information with a stark minimalism, Holmes with a playful quality, and Wurman with a complex and colorful organization, but all three reach out to the viewers with their engaging graphics. Designers can easily find clarity in striving for either of the three.