Category Archives: Design

Magnificent Publications is often asked to create publications that present data clearly and effectively. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be discussing some of the classic guidelines on the subject from a leading authority on data presentation, Edward Tufte. Last week we examined Tufte’s dissection of the graphs that failed to stop the ill-fated Challenger [...]

Magnificent Publications is often asked to create publications that present data clearly and effectively. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be discussing some of the classic guidelines on the subject from a leading authority on data presentation, Edward Tufte. Tufte describes his third book, Visual Explanations, as being about: …pictures of verbs, the representation of [...]

Magnificent Publications is often asked to create publications that present data clearly and effectively. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be discussing some of the classic guidelines on the subject from a leading authority on data presentation, Edward Tufte. In presenting information, it is important to draw the audience’s eye to the important relationships involved. [...]

My wife likes doors—front doors, closet doors, porch doors, storm doors. When we were house shopping, the initial impression a door made on her set the tone for an entire walk-through. We shunned otherwise presentable choices with grotesque entries since she felt that ugly doors only led to places we didn’t want to be. Your [...]

How many visitors leave your Website disappointed because they didn’t find what they expected? There’s no telling. But you can be sure that some do. I just left two Web sites disappointed. One was the Brady Campaign for Gun Control and the other was the National Rifle Association. There’s a lot to like about both [...]

In recent posts we’ve discussed how Jan V. White, the eminent designer, integrates graphics with copy to win readers. Another lesson follows. Readers usually examine a printed piece more than once. Even if it’s only a couple of pages, we first do a quick scan to determine its length and content and decide whether there’s [...]

So we were wondering how we could make Thanksgiving special on “The Editorial Advantage” without spending a fortune, and … … you saw it, right? … our Webmaster, Brian Adams of Big Fish Design, suddenly came up with this animation. And we loved it, but we thought oh boy this won’t be cheap. Guess what? [...]

In a recent post, we discussed a few of the many valuable lessons to be learned from Jan V. White, the eminent designer who treats graphics as elements to integrate with copy for the purpose of winning readers. Another of his lessons: We work frequently on publications with standardized formats, and it’s tempting to just [...]