When it’s better to subtract than add

  • Thread starter jedishrfu
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A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery
 
There was a master chart maker who followed that advice:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Tufte

He cited the Napoleanic war chart by CJ Minard where six variables were laid out in such a clear and concise matter showing what happened to Napolean's army during the campaign.

Minard's 1869 flow map of Napoleon's army in the 1812-1813 Russian campaign: a wide band narrowing from Kowno to Moscow, with a temperature chart below.

It shows the number of Napoleon's troops; distance; temperature; latitude and longitude; direction of travel; and location relative to specific dates.