13 common

mistakes in

dashboard

design

Rahul Gupta

Issues in Dashboard Design

– Too much data available to show

– Choosing right infographics to communicate the info

– Quantity vs Things-that-matters-most trade-off

– Is dashboard for novice/expert ?

– What is goal of the dashboard ? What do we want user to know/assess ? This

will govern what should be included and what should not.

– “If the statistics are boring, you have got the wrong numbers.”- Edward Tufte

Exceeding the boundaries of a

single screen

Why?

– It is easy to form relation between

components, when everything on

dashboard fits in single screen.

Supplying inadequate context for

the data

Example

– Not enough info about what

numbers mean.

Solution

– Tooltip, helper text

– Benchmarking the data

Displaying excessive detail or

precision

Non-Examples

– Mkt cap being shown in decimal

points

– Examples

– Showing in human readable format

Expressing Measures indirectly

Choosing inappropriate display

media

Introducing meaningless variety

Encoding quantitative data

inaccurately

Arranging the data poorly

– Similar metric/data should be

placed together

– Examples

– Fitbit puts all daily stats in one tile

Highlighting important data

ineffectively or not at all

– Google finance use it effectively :

stock price, the single most

important thing

– Fitbit misses this point

Cluttering the display with

useless decoration

Misusing or overusing color

– Color should be used to make a

point or help something stand out.

Designing an unattractive visual

display

Case Studies

– Google Finance: stock page

– Fitbit Dashboard

– Screener.in

Salesforce dashboards