10 ways to "Pimp Your Dashboard"

Dan's presentation from our January Conversion Thursday Manchester event.

Transcript

1. 10 easy ways to “Pimp Your Dashboard” Dan Croxen-John Applied Web Analytics
2. What you’re going to learn What is a dashboard Different categories of dashboards Visual presentation and how your memory works 10 easy ways to improve your dashboards Other resources 09/01/2012 Presentation title 2
3. What is a dashboard? 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 3 Visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives which fits entirely on one computer screen so it can be monitored at a glance Stephen Few “Information Dashboard Design”
4. Categories of dashboards Variable Values Role Strategic Analytical Operational Type of data Quantitative Qualitative Data domain Sales Finance Marketing Manufacturing Human Resources Types of measures Balanced scorecard (for example, KPIs) Six Sigma Non-performance Span of data Enterprise-wide Departmental Individual Update frequency Monthly Weekly Daily Hourly Real-time (or near real-time) Interactivity Static display Interactive display (drill-down, filters, etc.) Mechanisms of display Primarily graphical Primarily text Integration of graphics and text Portal functionality Conduit to additional activity No portal functionality 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 4
5. The business case 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 5 “The real value of dashboards lies in their ability to replace hunt-and-peck data- gathering techniques with a tireless, adaptable, information-flow mechanisms. Dashboards transform data repositories into consumable information.” Gregory L. Hovis “Stop Searching for Information” DM Direct, Feb 2002
6. Why are most dashboards so poor? 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 6 “Inept graphics flourish because many graphic artists believe that statistics are tedious and boring. It then follows that decorated graphics must pep up, animate, and all too often exaggerate what evidence there is in the data” Edward R. Tufte “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information”
7. How do we perceive visual information? 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 7 Only a portion of what our eyes sense becomes an object of focus or
8. 3 types of memory Memory Attributes Iconic (aka the visual sensory register) • Similar to a memory buffer of a computer, before being moved to RAM • Mostly pre-conscious, but some pre-attentive processing • Pre-attentive processing occurs at very high speed • This form of processing plays a powerful role in visual perception Short-term (aka working memory) • Where information resides during conscious processing • Temporary in nature • A portion is dedicated to visual information • It has limited storage capacity – three to nine “chunks” at a time Long - term • Information is stored on a continued basis • Largely outside of awareness, but can be brought into working memory when needed • Memories can last for a few days or a many years • Divided into declarative – episodic (events) / semantic (knowledge about world) and procedural (how to move and use objects) 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 8
9. How pre-attentive processing helps 09/01/2012 10 easy ways to pimp your dashboards 9 How many fives are there above? And now?
10. 10 ways to pimp your dashboards – from this… 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 10
11. To this…. 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 11
12. #1 Use pre-attentive attributes 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 12
13. #2 Use emphasis colours sparingly 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 13 Standard colours Emphasis colours
14. #3 Maximise your data:ink ratio 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 14 This dashboard has a very poor data:ink ratio. Lots of useless ink, that makes the data no clearer
15. How to maximize data-ink ratio Eliminate / substantially reduce the following:- – 3D – Navigation – Borders – Fill – Gridlines – Pointless variation in colour 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 15
16. 3D adds nothing but ink 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 16
17. Navigation adds ink 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 17
18. 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 18 Borders add ink We see closed shapes even when they are not finished – The Gestalt principle of closure Hence borders around graphs are unnecessary 0 2 4 6 Sales Units Profit 0 2 4 6 Sales Units Profit
19. Fill adds ink 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 19 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4
20. Gridlines add ink 0 2 4 6 Sales Profit Orders Customers 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 20 0 2 4 6 Sales Profit Orders Customers 0 2 4 6 Sales Profit Orders Customers 0 2 4 6 Sales Profit Orders Customers
21. Pointless variation in colour adds ink 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 21 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4
22. #4 Utilise bullet graphs and sparklines 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 22 Tutorial: http://www.exceluser.com/explore/bullet.htm
23. #5 Use legible font and clear icons Good Legibility Poor Legibility Serif Sans-serif Serif Sans-serif Times New Roman Palatino Courier Arial Verdana Script Broadway Old English Gills Sans Ultra Papyrus Tempus Sans ITC 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 23
24. #6 Don’t present graphs without context 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 24 Bad Good
25. #7 – Don’t choose a poor measure 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 25 This graph fails to convey the ‘variance from budget’ message the presenter had intended This graph does a much better job
26. #8 Don’t use the wrong chart type 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 26 Pie charts are difficult to interpret Bar charts are much better at displaying part-to-whole data
27. #9 Don’t design charts without thinking about the viewer 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 27
28. #10 Don’t highlight data ineffectively 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 28
29. Summary - 5 do’s and 5 don’ts 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 29 Do’s Don’t s • Use pre-attentive attributes to focus attention • Present graphs without context • Use emphasis colours sparingly • Choose a poor measure • Maximise your data-ink ratio • Use inappropriate chart types • Utilise bullet graphs and sparklines • Use poorly designed display types • Standardise on legible fonts and clear icons • Highlight data ineffectively
30. Further resources Stephen Few “Information Dashboard Design” Edward R. Tufte “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” “Beautiful Evidence” Colin Ware Information Visualization: Perception for Design” 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 30
31. 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp your dashboard 31 Questions? Contact details: dan@appliedwebanalytics.com 0800 990 3580 @dancroxenjohn