Gene Zelazny responds to Tufte on the famous Minard graphic

Gene Zelazny, McKinsey presentation guru and author of the bestselling Say It With Charts and Say It With Presentations, both published  into several languages, has written an essay taking a different perspective on Edward Tufte's cherished Minard graphic.

 
Minard

This graphic, as Tufte fans know, describes in some detail Napoleon's 1812 march on, and retreat from, Moscow.  Zelazny notes that the graphic is difficult to read, and proposes that there might be better ways to convey the same information.  

Say_It_With_PowerPoint_v6[a] 

Say_It_With_PowerPoint_v6[c]
 

Say_It_With_PowerPoint_v6[b] 

Jorge Camoes, in his Excel Charts blog, also critiqued Tufte's persective, and pointed out several other attempts to improve on Minard's work

I like the way Zelazny concludes his essay: if he had had PowerPoint, what would Minard have done?

The full Zelazny essay is available here.  

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