Data Density

During a discussion about data density and efficiency, the discussion seemed be getting sidetracked by which was a better design as opposed to which was truly more data dense. This seemed to be the result of the two examples not conveying the same amount or type of data.

I put together this little graphic to display two ways of displaying the same amount of information. One in a much more condensed fashion, with a lower "data-to-ink ratio," to borrow the words of Edward Tufte.