1. Reduce cognitive load
Let's talk about short-term memory and cognitive load.
2. Short-term memory
Here is a very simplified version of how humans process signals. Sensory information enters the brain and enters short-term memory. We act on that short-term memory and either drop the information or consolidate it into long-term memory for more permanent storage. When we need that information again, we recall it into short-term memory to use it.
3. The "magical number seven"
George Miller, in 1956, released a study showing that humans can hold somewhere between five and nine pieces of information at a time in short-term memory.
4. Or maybe 4?
Since Miller's paper, further research has noted the importance of "chunking" short-term memory information, which can help you hold more than nine individual pieces of info.
5. Cognitive load
This matters because of cognitive load. One way to think of cognitive load is, how many things on the page can distract me from my task at hand? In this example, we see a somewhat information-dense dashboard with a lot of extra visual noise; things that do not provide timely, relevant information. We also have at least three different stories being shown on this dashboard, including total sales amount grouped by quarter, the total cost of goods sold by channel at all times, and gross profit for products in a specific category for a specific year.
6. Reducing cognitive load
Here are a few quick wins for reducing cognitive load, and we will return to that dashboard with high cognitive load later on with some specific guidance.
Tailor the page to your audience: understand their needs and design with them in mind.
Focus on one story per page. Don't try to jam together multiple stories, as that makes it harder to follow.
Pay attention to information-rich visuals--if done right, they can provide a lot of information in a small space; if done wrong, they can confuse the audience.
Here are three examples of information-rich visuals we will look at: the line and column chart, as well as custom tornado and radar chart visuals.
7. Custom visuals in Power BI
Power BI allows you to include custom visuals in a report. Previously, we saw examples of the tornado and radar chart custom visuals, and here, we can see their icons in the Visualizations panel. The ellipsis in the Visualizations panel allows you to import custom visuals from your machine or grab more.
8. Microsoft AppSource
One key place to find these custom visuals is Microsoft AppSource. If you have a Power BI account, you can connect to AppSource and download free or paid custom visuals if you have a Power BI account.
9. Thinking of our audience
In our upcoming exercises, we will work on projects the company's Chief Commercial Officer, or CCO, assigned to us. This executive-level role can have a long list of responsibilities related to marketing, sales, and even product development within a company. Ultimately, their top concern is the commercial success of the company and usually they report to the CEO of an organization.
The CCO of Threads Ltd is interested in gaining more information related to the financial performance of the company. This will include information related to the revenue (the sales amount), COGS (cost of goods sold), and even gross profit. As an executive, the CCO doesn't have ample time to review reports - so we will have to ensure to only include information and visuals that are important in answering the questions the CCO has posed for us.
10. Let's practice!
Before moving on to the exercises, let's test your understanding of cognitive load.