Dos and Don’ts of Data Visualisation
Dashboard
10 best practices for building effective dashboards
- Know your audience: modulate the complexity against your audience's level of expertise.
- Consider display size: consider the way your audience is
going to consume your data. When designing for mobile, reduce the amount
of interactivity. Stack content vertically for phone screens.
- Plan for fast load times: for optimisation tips, read here.
- Leverage the sweet spot: consider how your audience will 'read' your dashboard. Use the design (lines, white space, colours) to
create a structure and guide the flow.
- Limit the number of views and colours: stick to two or three
views in order not to overwhelm the reader. In case you need more, add
other dashboards or use a story. Reduce the number of colours and use
them intentionally.
- Add interactivity to encourage exploration: add filters and a search box, and highlight actions.
- Format from largest to smallest: from a formatting perspective, the hierarchy of a dashboard looks like this: 1. Theme; 2. Workbook; 3. Worksheet.
- Refining your dashboard: Tooltips are a useful way to reinforce the story. Remember to customise them and format accurately. The Viz in Tooltip feature augments your dashboards and stories with relevant data without introducing more clutter.
- Eliminate clutter: every element should serve a purpose: reduce the number of colours, lines and legends, and the amount of text if not necessary.
- Test your dashboard for usability.