The 10 Dashboard Design Commandments
The dashboard design rules outlined in the "Dashboard Commandments" are crucial to our business as they ensure that our data visualization tools are not only effective but also user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing. By adhering to principles such as telling a clear story, maintaining quality aesthetics, and avoiding common pitfalls, we can deliver dashboards that provide actionable insights at a glance, support informed decision-making, and enhance user engagement.
Furthermore, by organizing information effectively and maintaining high aesthetic standards, these guidelines help our customers quickly grasp key insights and make informed decisions without being overwhelmed by unnecessary details. The emphasis on storytelling and actionable insights ensures that users can easily navigate through the data, identify trends, and respond promptly to emerging issues. Moreover, the commitment to accessibility and simplicity means that our dashboards are inclusive and efficient, catering to a diverse range of users and their specific needs.
Overall, these design principles empower our customers to harness the full potential of their data, driving better outcomes and fostering business growth. By delving deeper into each of these principles, we can better understand their specific importance and the value they bring to our customers' data visualization experience:
Overall Design Principles
Tell a Story
1) It has a clear title and purpose
Importance: Provides immediate context, allowing users to understand the dashboard's objective and focus without confusion.
2) Allows interactivity or drill-down
Importance: Empowers users to explore data in depth, uncovering insights that are relevant to their specific needs and questions.
3) Organizes information to support dashboard's meaning and use
Importance: Ensures data is presented logically, enhancing comprehensibility and making it easier for users to extract meaningful information.
4) Visuals show targets or variance from target
Importance: Highlights key performance indicators and deviations, enabling users to quickly assess performance and identify areas needing attention.
Quality Aesthetics
5) Aesthetic branding that adheres to the partner's ideals
Importance: Creates a cohesive and professional look that aligns with the brand identity, fostering trust and engagement.
6) Choose the correct visual for each question/data point
Importance: Uses the most appropriate chart or graph type to accurately represent data, facilitating better understanding and analysis.
7) Prune unnecessary visual elements
Importance: Reduces clutter, ensuring that the focus remains on the most important data and insights, thus minimizing distractions.
8) Use the highest quality BESPOKE backgrounds
Importance: Enhances the visual appeal and readability of the dashboard, making it look polished and tailored to specific needs.
"Shalt Not"
9) Clutter the display with visual effects
Importance: Prevents overwhelming the user with unnecessary embellishments, which can detract from the clarity and usability of the dashboard.
10) Deliberately mislead the user
Importance: Maintains ethical standards by ensuring that data is presented truthfully and transparently, preserving user trust and making informed decision-making possible.
Scoring a Dashboard with the ’10 Commandments’
Let's now evaluate two different dashboard by scoring it against the provided criteria.
Dashboard #1 – Pocket Financials by FreshBI
Does it tell a story?
This dashboard clearly communicates its purpose of financial reporting (Commandment #1), seemingly allows drilldown to lower levels of detail (Commandment #2) and organizes and presents information in a clear way with targets and important values easily identifiable (Commandments #3 and #4).
Does it have ‘Quality Aesthetics’?
This aspect is more subjective. The dashboard uses well-coordinated colors, though a company logo could enhance its sense of ownership (Commandment #5). It excels in using well-crafted visuals that convey important details at a glance without unnecessary or distracting elements (Commandments #5, #6, and #7).
Does it avoid the ‘Shalt Not’ pitfalls?
The simple, neat, and straightforward presentation of this dashboard avoids clutter and distractions, thus adhering to Commandments #9 and #10.
Final Score: 10/10
This dashboard scores a perfect 10, meeting all criteria. While some company-specific branding would be ideal, it remains a showcase dashboard that can be easily adjusted for that purpose.
Dashboard #2 – Chocawhatchee Basin Alliance Water Quality
Does it tell a story?
This dashboard has a clear purpose and is interactive, providing supplemental information easily (Commandments #1 and #2). However, it is not organized in a way that is easy to read and understand (Commandment #3). Only the gauge visuals show targets or provide context, failing to offer insights at a glance (Commandment #4).
Does it have ‘Quality Aesthetics’?
Subjectively, it lacks aesthetic branding and cohesive colors (Commandment #5). Without full context of the designer's intent, it's difficult to judge if these visuals are the best choice (Commandment #6). Most visuals lack targets or context, failing this commandment. Although individual visuals are simple and uncluttered (Commandment #7), the overall dashboard is crowded and uninspiring, failing Commandment #8.
Does it avoid the ‘Shalt Not’ pitfalls?
This dashboard overwhelms the user with too much information at a glance, failing Commandment #9. However, it does not over-alert or mislead users, passing Commandment #10.
Final Score: 4/10
This dashboard is cluttered, lacks flow, and makes it difficult to identify key metrics. Users would struggle to know where to look or what steps to take next.
Summary
In conclusion, the "Dashboard Commandments" provide essential guidelines for creating effective, user-friendly, and aesthetically pleasing data visualization tools that drive action and propel a business forward.