How can you design better data dashboards?

1 Know your purpose

Before you start designing your dashboard, you need to define its purpose. What is the main question or problem you want to answer or solve? Who is your target audience and what are their expectations and preferences? How will they use the dashboard and how often? These questions will help you narrow down your scope, select the most relevant data, and choose the appropriate layout and format for your dashboard.

2 Choose the right charts

One of the most important aspects of data visualization is choosing the right charts to display your data. Different charts have different strengths and weaknesses, and you need to match them to your data type, your message, and your audience. For example, if you want to show trends over time, you might use a line chart or a bar chart. If you want to compare proportions or percentages, you might use a pie chart or a donut chart. If you want to show relationships or correlations, you might use a scatter plot or a bubble chart. You also need to consider the number of variables, categories, and data points you have, and avoid cluttering or misleading your charts with too much or too little information.

3 Use color and contrast wisely

Color and contrast are powerful visual elements that can enhance or detract from your data dashboard. You need to use them wisely to highlight, differentiate, and emphasize your data, not to distract, confuse, or mislead your audience. You should follow some basic principles of color and contrast, such as using a consistent and meaningful color scheme, avoiding too many or too bright colors, using contrasting colors to draw attention to key data or actions, and ensuring sufficient contrast between your text and background for readability and accessibility.

4 Organize and align your elements

Another key aspect of data visualization is organizing and aligning your elements on your dashboard. You need to create a clear and logical structure that guides your audience through your data and your story. You should follow some basic principles of organization and alignment, such as using grids and white space to create balance and harmony, grouping related elements together and separating unrelated ones, placing the most important or relevant elements at the top or left of your dashboard, and aligning your elements horizontally or vertically to create consistency and flow.

5 Add context and interactivity

Finally, you need to add context and interactivity to your data dashboard to make it more informative and engaging. You need to provide context to your data by adding labels, titles, captions, legends, and annotations that explain what your data means and why it matters. You also need to provide interactivity to your data by adding filters, sliders, buttons, menus, and tooltips that allow your audience to explore, customize, and interact with your data. These features can help you create a more dynamic and user-friendly dashboard that adapts to different scenarios and needs.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?