Information Dashboard Design
Dashboards have become a popular means to present critical business information at a glance, but few do so effectively. Huge investments are made in Information Technology to produce actionable information, only to have it robbed of meaning at the very last stage of the process: the presentation of insights to those responsible for making decisions. When designed well, dashboards engage the power of visual perception to communicate a dense collection of information in an instant with exceptional clarity. This can only be achieved, however, by applying visual design skills that address the unique design challenges of dashboards. These skills are not intuitive; they must be learned.
Stephen Few, a leader in the field of data visualization and author of Information Dashboard Design: Displaying Data for At-a-Glance Monitoring, Second Edition (2013), will expose the common problems in dashboard design and introduce effective design practices through examples that explain what works, what doesn't, and why.
This course covers:
- Current state of dashboards
- Definition and potential benefits of dashboards
- Fundamental goals and challenges of dashboard design
- Thirteen common mistakes in dashboard design
- Characteristics of well-designed dashboards
- Steps in the dashboard design process
- Common dashboard information and techniques for enriching its meaning
- Selecting appropriate media for displaying the data
- Ideal library of dashboard display media
- Best practices of dashboard design
If you're trying to convince someone (such as your boss) that it's worth your while to attend this course, the article "Why Most Dashboards Fail" might be useful.