Dashboards

I received some sample "dashboards" the other day which literally made me sad.  I think the intent was genuine, i.e. find the right information which will facilitate decision making, however, the execution was so poor that it was depressing.

If you are really serious about dashboard design, you should check out the new edition of Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few.  This one book will change your perception of dashboards and give you insight into how to construct a dashboard which will be truly useful.  Few provides a definition of dashboards, which I think helps guide the conversation:

A dashboard is a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives, consolidated and arranged on a single screen so the information can be monitored at a glance.

The book provides a lot of examples of both good and bad dashboard design along with sufficient commentary to begin to understand what it takes to put together a dashboard that can be used to inform decisions.  I especially like that he devotes chapter 2 to the "Thirteen Common Mistakes in Dashboard Design." (see the article at the link)  This is a carry-over from his first edition and articles but well worth repeating.  Those thirteen common mistakes are:

1. Exceeding the boundaries of a single screen
2. Supplying inadequate context for the data
3. Displaying excessive detail or precision
4. Expressing measures indirectly
5. Choosing inappropriate display media
6. Introducing meaningless variety
7. Using poorly designed display media
8. Encoding quantitative data inaccurately
9. Arranging information poorly
10. Highlighting important information ineffectively or not at all
11. Cluttering the display with visual effects
12. Misusing or overusing color
13. Designing an unattractive visual display

Obviously, dashboards are tools and should not be considered an end unto themselves.  A well designed dashboard should draw attention to the pertinent data.  However, for this to happen some serious consideration has to go into the design.  If this is of interest, get Few's book and begin to explore the wide diversity of what an effective dashboard design looks like.