A metaphor for good information design is a map. Hold any diagram against a map and see how it compares.

If there is a well thought-out design standard, it should be followed. In practice, great design comes from great designers. That is empirically the case. If a great designer did a first-rate standard, that model should be followed. Great design is not democratic; it comes from great designers. If the standard is lousy, then develop another standard.

Confusion and clutter are failures of design, not attributes of information. And so the point is to find design strategies that reveal detail and complexity - rather than to fault the data for an excess of complication. Or, worse, to fault viewers for a lack of understanding.

Good design is clear thinking made visible, bad design is stupidity made visible

Clutter is not an attribute of information, clutter is a failure of design...fix the design rather than stripping all the detail out of the map.

The goal is to provide analytical tools that will last students a lifetime

PowerPoint is like being trapped in the style of early Egyptian flatland cartoons rather than using the more effective tools of Renaissance visual representation.