iPhone Resolution by Edward Tufte

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The iPhone platform elegantly solves the design problem of small screens by greatly intensifying the information resolution of each displayed page. Small screens, as on traditional cell phones, show very little information per screen, which in turn leads to deep hierarchies of stacked-up thin information--too often leaving users with "Where am I?" puzzles. Better to have users looking over material adjacent in space rather than stacked in time.

To do so requires increasing the information resolution of the screen by the hardware (higher resolution screens) and by screen design (eliminating screen-hogging computer administrative debris, and distributing information adjacent in space).

This video shows some of the resolution-enhancing methods of the iPhone, along with a few places for improvements in resolution.

ET January 24, 2008

For works by Edward Tufte please go to edwardtufte.com

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• iPhone
• Edward
• Tufte
• Resolution
• Severny
• Andrei
• Северный
• display
• interface
• sparklines
• small
• multiples
• weather
• stock
• exchange
• app

[thebrokenladder]

Android's UI is so much more effective and usable.

[holocosmos]

I am incredibly happy to see Professor Tufte opining so insightfully on the iPhone interface. For years I thought him antagonistic to anything digital and interactive. It seemed his thesis was that paper was inevitably superior as a means of visually displaying quantitative information, and that he didn't include interactivity and temporality as tools to convey this information. But now I see that he was waiting for sufficient resolution -- in space, time, and interaction, to emerge.

[severny]

Dear S.O.Rings,

Jailbreak is a way to install applications and tweak iPhone not via official Apple route. It came out before the release of the App Store right when this film was made in early 2008. Apple does not recommend using this kind of software and it voids your warranty. It apparently also caused phones to go dead on users provoking endless jokes about iBricks, so it's installation was considered dangerous. Note the fake logos of Network provider and the applications installed.

A.

[SaturnsOuterRing]

I really like Prof. Tufte's critical analysis but I'm not sure I get his humor... "this is an iPhone jailbreak, don't try this at home". ??? did I miss something?

[BILL8032]

I hope you post more videos, not just your art work. You have a great website and I hope other viewers will visit it.