I was surprised by some very odd typographic choices in Tufte’s new book. Halfway through, he explains: “Systematic regularity of text paragraphs is universally inconvenient for readers… Idiosyncratic paragraphs assist memory and retrieval” A fascinating idea—I’m not sure!
Conversation
The tyranny of the grid! The tyranny of text-in-boxes! The oppressive constancy of text-in-boxes-in-rectangles! It is good to see attempts to systematically break this.
“Nearly every paragraph in this book is deliberately visually unique."
6
10
97
Unsurprisingly, he draws a great deal on typographic ideas from poetry, but his ideas about “text matrices” seem mostly influenced by principles of information architecture.
Replying to
This is a particularly dynamic page expressing some really lovely ideas along those lines.
11
9
101
Seeing with Fresh Eyes. edwardtufte.com/tufte/seeing-w
If you’re not familiar with his work, though, I’d suggest starting with his earlier books.
3
4
This Tweet was deleted by the Tweet author. Learn more
Yes… he comments in a few places about typographic choices which e.g. force the reader to slow down, or which make it easier for readers to experimentally combine different paths through the text.
1
Show replies
Replying to
I have to read this book. It sounds like he’s talking about shaped poems/calligrammes (eg Lewis Carroll’s The Mouse’s Tale from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)
2
2
Replying to
Hmm. Have you ever essentially memorized a long text by rereading it frequently? (Nerd alert: I did as teen, Dungeon Masters Guide). Was able to recall specific pages and page locations despite not particularly aiming to, and despite #1 all-time bad layout of that text.
2
1
May actually reflect some structural property of cognition via text, in other words. Spatial orientation is common in other information-seeking behaviors.
2
This is how I handwrite - heard of art, arts of private writing