Data stories with dashboards
1. Data stories with dashboards
Welcome back! In this chapter, we'll work on creating an effective dashboard for Pivotal Mortgage.2. What is a dashboard?
Much like how a car's dashboard summarizes a lot of information visually, a dashboard is a visual presentation of important metrics consolidated into a single view. It provides a quick, at-a-glance summary of key insights and trends relevant to a specific business, project, or process.3. Data storytelling
Data storytelling is the practice of using data, visualizations, and narratives to communicate insights, trends, and analyses in an impactful way. It should make data-driven insights more understandable and engaging to the audience by using cohesive visualizations and highlighting key trends for the user.4. Best practices
So, what makes a dashboard good? What do you think of this one? Maybe this made you laugh... or cry... or both! This famously bad dashboard can teach us some best practices. First, a dashboard needs to have clear objectives. In other words, it should answer a question someone might ask about the data. What do you think the objective is of this dashboard? You could say "about London", but what about London? It's unclear. Second, know your audience and scope. A dashboard built for a CEO may not be useful to their factory manager. Likewise, a dashboard built for a factory manager might not be useful for a CEO. They have different functions in the company and need insights on different things.5. Best practices
Here we have information about weather and the subway, so the audience could be commuters...6. Best practices
... But then we have information about stocks and the electricity grid, so there is no well-defined audience.7. Best practices
This brings us to number three: keep it simple and focused. Once you have a well-defined objective and scope, this is a lot easier. Just remember to stay focused. Less is more. The scope and objective weren't clear on this dashboard, which makes it's narrative ineffective.8. Best practices
And finally, balance the aesthetics with functionality. Often, simple and easy-to-read dashboards with a handful of visuals are best. This dashboard fails at both: visually, the colors don't work together, there are traffic camera and media posts. It's hard to read all this information. Also, functionally it doesn't allow users to explore the data, and some of the data is unavailable. Pause the video for a few seconds and think of ways this dashboard could be improved using these best practices, then resume our lesson once you're ready.9. Key performance indicators (KPIs)
Key performance indicators, or KPIs, are used to measure performance and set goals. In data storytelling, they can be very useful to show how well an objective was met. KPIs usually have a defined target and a range of error. Think about the strength game at a county fair. While the goal is always to hit the bell, sometimes you get close. A good KPI visual will show how well the data performed relative to the set target.10. What's trending
Using trendlines effectively is also a powerful method to communicate data trends clearly in your storytelling.11. What's trending
However, it's important to strike a balance and avoid overloading your visuals with too many trendlines, which can lead to confusion. Use trendlines purposefully and selectively.12. Let's practice!
Alright, it's time for some practice.Create Your Free Account
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