My bad. What I should have said was "Edward Tufte's books. They contain beautiful diagrams". LOL...Didn't know about "Beautiful Evidence" until you mentioned it.
I know exactly what you are feeling trying to get that One Thing. It's what separates the good stuff from the great. I don't try to show everything on one diagram... even if it fits contextually. If you force people to have to think too much when they try to unpack your diagram, they lose interest. Draw, edit, adjust. After many years, I have a few "general starting points" in my head, and go from there. I still need to edit a lot...but I get there faster these days.
I know exactly what you are feeling trying to get that One Thing. It's what separates the good stuff from the great. I don't try to show everything on one diagram... even if it fits contextually. If you force people to have to think too much when they try to unpack your diagram, they lose interest. Draw, edit, adjust. After many years, I have a few "general starting points" in my head, and go from there. I still need to edit a lot...but I get there faster these days.