Before we go any further here, let's pay tribute to the master. What Edward Tufte doesn't know about this subject isn't worth knowing.

But for us mere mortals, what can we do to look at our data differently and get more out of it?

Plenty, but we're not going to give all of our top tips away on t'Internet, so give us a call and we'll come to see you and have a chat. It would be a shame if all of that great data you collected was now being wasted in a 3D multi-coloued exploding pie-chart that no-one can make any sense of.

The golden rule here is Holmes' Law - The more it costs more to print it, the chances are the less information will be gleaned from it by the user. And don't just use the first graph that Excel suggests!