By: Shilpi Choudhury

Dashboard Design Trends

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Then…

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Now, thanks to technology,

information has become more accessible.

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Source: Data, Discovery, Action , Aberdeen Group, 2013

A study conducted by the

more and more enterprise decision makers,

while performing their tasks in traditional CRM,

ERP and other business applications, are looking for better visibility, better reporting and quicker access to performance metrics.

Aberdeen Group in 2013 found that

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is emerging into a holistic decision making tool

The information dashboard

providing users with key insights into their performance

metrics

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Here’s our list of design trendsthat are determining the look and feel of the modern day

dashboards

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2Responsive Layout

1Metro Layout

2Interactive

Feature

3 2Sparklines

4Trendlines &

Progress Bar

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Labeled Icons

6Real-time Updates

7Alerts

8Location Aware

9Broader

Color Palette

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With smartphones, tablets and the plethora of other mobile devices becoming mainstream, users need information on the move, ushering in the trend to design

dashboards that are responsive and adapt to the viewing media.

Responsive Layout

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Grid-based layout, good use of whitespace, more dependency on typography and minimalist graphics of the metro layout ensures that the

story is communicated in a clear and concise manner.

MetroLayout

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Capabilities like drill down, zooming, directly editable charts and reports that can be exported in multiple formats are opening up new possibilities of exploring

data.

Interactive Features

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When real estate is an issue, sparklines and other word-sized charts help in providing a quick sense of historical context without consuming too much

space.

Sparklines

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Help answer questions like how far is the latest measure from achieving the target, or is the current measure better when compared to the previous one. Makes the data more

meaningful and relevant for users.

Trendlines & Progress

Bars

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A small icon followed by a 1-2 word description ensures that new users are not left guessing.

Labeled Icons

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Due to technological developments in both in-stream and ad-hoc processing, it’s much easier now to get real-time updates on the dashboard directly.

Real-time Updates

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Many dashboards allow end users to set up alerts so that they can be notified when a metric reaches a certain threshold value.

Alerts

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Popularity of technologies like GPS, RFID and other location-aware wireless devices have led to the possibility of monitoring location-based metrics. GPS-powered mobile dashboards will also help prioritize information by geographic

proximity.

LocationAware

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From shades of gray with a few bright colors as accents to bold and uncommon color combinations to everything in between, today’s dashboards are seeing skillful use of a

broader color palette.

Broader Color

Palette

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To Trend or Not To Trend: Mascots?

Some find them humorous, some helpful guides while some others think they are distractions

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Now over to you.

What trends do you see emerge in

information dashboard designs?

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data visualization?Visit us at blog.fusioncharts.com