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November 05, 2003
Helfand on Tufte
Over on the ID-Cafe list today, there was quite a bit of discussion about Jessica Helfand's recent weblog entry about Edward Tufte re his appearance with David Byrne in Wired (which I mentioned a while back). It's an interesting read, but I'm not sure I get what seems to be her actual criticism: Both Byrne and Tufte are self-proclaimed experts. Yet in spite of what they might have you believe, neither are artists -- in that formally attuned, conceptually rigorous way, for instance, that one might look at Jasper Johns or Andy Warhol ... Huh? That's the criticism that can be leveled by one of the talents of the graphic design field? It's not that I disagree with another of her criticisms: Tufte's expertise is not only self-proclaimed -- it is also deeply and irrevocably self-serving. In this area, I think Tufte has much in common with Jakob Nielsen...both are as adept at media spin as they are in their field of expertise. That said, I would far rather see a criticism based on the merit of some of Tufte's actual work (much like this one at Boxes and Arrows re Nielsen) than to point out that Tufte isn't Andy Warhol.
Comments
Helfand seems deeply offended by the fact that Tufte has created some sculptural works, calling it pure hubris. While I don't find his sculptures at all interesting, I'm not going to deny him the right to create them, or even to call himself a sculptor. We could call it hubris if, instead of saying "Buy my sculptures because they're good" (a fact I would dispute, but that's just me), he's saying "Buy my sculptures because I'm Edward Tufte." But I don't see him doing that. -- Posted by dave p. on November 6, 2003 09:11 AM
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IDblog is Beth Mazur tilting at power law windmills. A little bit Internet, a little bit technology, a little bit society, and a lot about designing useful information products. Send your cards and letters to .
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