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10 ways to "Pimp Your Dashboard"

appliedwebanalytics
April 13, 2012
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10 ways to "Pimp Your Dashboard"

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

appliedwebanalytics

April 13, 2012
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Transcript

  1. 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
  2. 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”
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. 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”
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. How pre-attentive processing helps 09/01/2012 10 easy ways to pimp

    your dashboards 9 How many fives are there above? And now?
  9. #2 Use emphasis colours sparingly 09/01/2012 10 ways to pimp

    your dashboard 13 Standard colours Emphasis colours
  10. #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
  11. 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
  12. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. #4 Utilise bullet graphs and sparklines 09/01/2012 10 ways to

    pimp your dashboard 22 Tutorial: http://www.exceluser.com/explore/bullet.htm
  17. #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
  18. #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
  19. #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
  20. 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
  21. 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