Dashboard-specific visualization techniques
1. Dashboard-specific visualization techniques
The success of a dashboard depends upon how users understand and interact with it.2. Designing dashboards for human eyes
Effective data visualization supports cognitive processes in many ways. It reduces the cognitive load on the user, aids in problem-solving, facilitates discovery, provides actionable insights, and of all methods for analyzing and communicating statistical information, well-designed data graphics are usually the simplest and the most powerful.3. Design principles
When we communicate visually, what are the main characteristics of processing information? We recognize similarities and differences.4. Design principles
We look for patterns.5. Design principles
We create relationships between the things we see. To leverage this cognitive information with the dashboard design, several empirical principles can be applied: Conventional principles, such as CRAP, determine how the elements of design (shape, size, color) are used. They are considered the building blocks of geometric and chromatic design.6. Design principles
The second set of guidelines is known as Gestalt principles. It refers to how visual input is perceived by human beings and is often translated as form, shape, pattern, or configuration.7. C.R.A.P. design principles
CRAP is an acronym for four essential design principles. Contrast is crucial for making important elements stand out visually, using size, shape, and color. Repetition helps create consistency and facilitates connections between different sections. For example, you can use the same graphical representation for different KPIs. Alignment helps create a sense of order and visual connection between different elements. You can align sections or text to make the design more visually consistent. Proximity is about grouping related elements together, making it easier to perceive relationships between them.8. Gestalt principles
Gestalt psychology explains how we perceive and organize what we see. The similarity principle groups objects of similar color, shape, size, or orientation.9. Gestalt principles
The continuity principle perceives objects in line with one another as part of a whole. For example, we perceive that the blue bars in the graphic are decreasing.10. Gestalt principles
Symmetry shows that we prefer design elements with equivalent parts.11. Gestalt principles
Closure shows that we tend to complete missing parts in the design. For example, our eyes connect invisible lines to create a rectangle.12. Gestalt principles
The ground principle places objects in the foreground or background. Our eyes perceive the red dots being "in front of" the blue box.13. Gestalt principles
The common fate principle unifies objects sharing a direction. Before we know if the data with red dots is related, we begin to group these dots together following their direction of placement.14. Misleading visualization: dos and don'ts
Gestalt Principles can also mislead data interpretation. For example, intentionally changing the baseline of a graph can play a trick on the continuity and proximity principles. In the example, it created an exaggerated difference in tax cuts between two years by starting the y-axis with a non-zero baseline. Interval inconsistency, or skipping interval values, can also create an illusion of a steady increase or decrease. Here some interval values are skipped, which created an illusion of a steady increase. Also, do not overload your chart. Some graphical elements like gridlines, axis labels, and colors, can be simplified to highlight what is most important. Finally, adding a 3rd dimension may throw off proportions and make things look big or small depending on the distance. The left bar when positioned in the 3-D background looks taller than in the 2-D plane.15. Let's practice!
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