Slavishly reproducing his methodology ignores everything we've learned since then. On the other hand, for those new to the field, reading about his work and understanding what he was trying to accomplish with the tools available at the time can open our eyes to new ways of thinking.
(As an aside, this same maxim has also helped me with things like programming tools. We don't need to use Lisp or Smalltalk for everything, but we can learn a lot from these languages, and especially from what their creators and proponents were trying to achieve with them.)
The famous graphic about Napoleon's army which is very associated with Tufte is an example of a graphic that crams a lot of data into an illustration that rewards careful study. It's actually not a graphic that especially makes data about something obvious at a quick glance.
Sometimes an illustration that best serves as a background for a knowledgeable person spending 30 minutes explaining it is a good approach. Other times you want to capture the contrast between a few numbers in a compelling way.
http://sdwise.com/2013/07/hey-new-york-times-a-causal-loop-d...
But, as the linked article discusses, this is actually a really good diagram if you have someone up there explaining it in extreme detail. But it looks like a mockable graphic to the casual observer.
2. Almost every chart and graph I see would be better if its creator understood and applied Tufte’s principles.
3. His books are truly delightful to read and are not overrated.
4. If he’s so overrated, name a person or resource that would better impart a set of useful principles to create effective and accurate visual representations of information.