Editor’s note: This article was originally published in Cognos Performance Perspectives, the Cognos e-newsletter. Every six weeks, Cognos Performance Perspectives brings you the latest insights, trends, and research in BI and performance management. Visit Cognos Performance Perspectives to read the current issue and sign up for your free subscription.

Meaningful Design for More Effective Dashboards

If a picture's worth a thousand words, what's the value of a well-designed dashboard? That's the question facing report authors as a growing number of frontline managers turn to operational dashboards to keep core processes running smoothly.

As illustrated in an earlier article, the right visuals are as important to decision-making as data and measures. And so in addition to metadata and metrics, report authors are now educating themselves about the rules of visual perception.

For data visualization expert and author Stephen Few, this knowledge is essential to a successful dashboard deployment.

"People believe that dashboards must look flashy, filled with eye-catching gauges and charts [...] despite the fact that displays of this type usually say little," he writes. "Only those who cut through the hype and learn practical dashboard design skills will produce dashboards that actually work."¹

A successful dashboard guides users through a series of logical steps: perception, understanding, action.

The design challenge

For Few, the challenge of dashboard design is to display a dense amount of information on a single screen "clearly and without distraction" and "in a manner that can be quickly examined and understood."

A successful dashboard is akin to an airplane cockpit. The information may be different, but each interface guides users through a series of logical steps: perception, understanding, action.

From perception to action

First, the dashboard should provide an overview of what's going on and allow the user to identify quickly what needs her attention. Next, the user must be able to isolate those critical areas and understand what has to be done. Finally, if more detail is required, the dashboard should "serve as a seamless launch pad to that information."²

At the detail level, it might be a report or a cube that provides the context for an informed response – for example, a table of overdue accounts sorted by balance outstanding.³

Representing data

What about visual elements? Few suggests that less is more. "Anything that doesn't add meaning to the data must be thrown out [...] Elegance in communication is often achieved through simplicity of design."⁴

And from software architect Thomas Gonzalez: "Every dashboard component must effectively balance its share of screen real estate with the importance of the information it is imparting to the viewer."⁵

Consider a dashboard full of traffic lights. With so much information, users might have trouble discerning which is most critical. Instead, if only one light appears on the screen, along with a discrete number of supporting charts or gauges, the most important data becomes clear.

Stop lights, thermometers, and donuts

Knowing which graphics work best for what information is also key. Are you showing trends or exceptions? Comparing values or illustrating quantitative data? "Selection of appropriate charts requires a good blend of analytical thinking and artistic rendering," writes Shadan Malik in Dashboard Insight. ⁶

For example: pie charts work well for relative shares or percentages. If you are comparing two metrics, a bar chart is likely the best choice. But other visuals may not be so obvious.

Figure 1 illustrates where a gauge might be used to show business growth. While the bar chart in Figure 2 effectively shows several metrics together in a single image.

Figure 1	Figure 2

Space constraints may be a determining factor, too. All things being equal, a thermometer and speedometer show the same information. But for a narrow screen space, a thermometer fits better. In a similar way, a traffic light also makes good use of a small space.

Colors, palettes, and perception

With most dashboards being deployed over the Web, it's also important not to forget colors and style palettes. Color, for example, has a bearing on eye movement, perception, and even emotional response – all factors in determining how people interpret information.

Also, the fact that one man in 10 is color blind raises the possibility of their missing critical information if the indicators rely exclusively on colors. A basic rule of thumb: colors shouldn't distract from key messages or information displayed on the screen. ⁷

Placement and layout

Figure 3 Source: Designing Executive Dashboards: Part 2, Dashboard Insight, April 2007

Size and contrast also play a role, according to Thomas Gonzalez. He suggests that the most important elements should be larger in size. And in some cases, contrast – more than size – will determine where the user focuses attention first.

Figure 3, for example, shows how the dark circle pulls the eye towards it, even though it isn't the largest element on the screen.⁸

Studies also show that people's eyes go to the top right of the screen first. Then top left, followed by bottom right, and bottom left. If you want the user to quickly find an important item, the top right quadrant is the best place to put it.

Business users know best

Finally, Shadan Malik suggests it's good practice to gain early input and feedback from the user base during the design process. In the end, it's the people sitting in the cockpit who know what works and what doesn't in terms of communicating information to business users.

"Dashboards must provide a view into the business, and only the business users know best how they view and interrelate various charts and reports to extract critical business information." ⁹

Summary

Flashy graphics or meaningful information? By giving dashboard design as much consideration as the data that goes into them, designers will ensure users both understand and make the right decisions from the information they see – in the shortest order possible.

Find Out More White Papers by Stephen Few: "Visual Communication: Core Design Principles for Displaying Quantitative Information" [PDF - 525 KB] "Visual Pattern Recognition: Meaningful Patterns in Quantitative Business Information" [PDF - 3 MB] "Data Visualization: Past, Present, and Future" [PDF - 2.4 MB]

---

Sources

¹ Stephen Few, Why Most Dashboards Fail, Perceptual Edge, 2007.

² Ibid.

³ Thomas Gonzalez, Designing Executive Dashboards: Part 1, Dashboard Insight, May 3, 2007.

⁴ Stephen Few, Why Most Dashboards Fail, Perceptual Edge, 2007.

⁵ Thomas Gonzalez, Designing Executive Dashboards: Part 1, Dashboard Insight, May 3, 2007.

⁶ Shadan Malik, Are there rules of thumb to decide which graphical interface best conveys meaning? Dashboard Insight, April 25, 2007.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ Thomas Gonzalez, Designing Executive Dashboards: Part 1, Dashboard Insight, May 3, 2007.

⁹ Shadan Malik, Are there rules of thumb to decide which graphical interface best conveys meaning? Dashboard Insight, April 25, 2007.