Tip 2: Employ a clean layout

Information cannot be placed just anywhere on the dashboard, nor can sections of the display be sized simply to fit the available space. Items that relate to one another should usually be positioned close to one another. — Stephen Few, author of Information Dashboard Design

Dashboard content must be organized in a way that reflects the nature of the information being displayed. It not only needs to create efficiency for the audience, but it should also provide a manageable foundation for the report itself. Building modules is one method that can help you to create a basic structure and skeleton for your design, so that you can achieve an organized data display with effective alignment and consistency. We recommend keeping these DO’s and DON’Ts in mind when assessing your dashboard layout.

A. Plan ahead

Don’t approach your dashboard design without a plan, or you might get a dashboard like this (above).

Before designing the report dashboard, preparation and planning for all the visual components will reduce time wasted on trial and error. That means one should decide on what information should take priority ahead of time. And even then, the flow could be compromised when trying to cram too much information into one dashboard.

We recommend sketching a basic structure or “skeleton” for the design with some possible modules layouts, as seen here.

Once the basic structure is determined, identify what kind of visual components to include in the dashboard. This process will help you judge how effectively the key information is displayed and test the drawn-out framework. When everything looks good on paper or in theory, now it’s time to evaluate effectiveness.

Don’t overload your dashboard with too many components. It occupies a lot of visual space and ends up distracting your audiences from obtaining key information at a glance.

Do choose your key components wisely. Try to use no more than 5-7 different data components to create a view.

Don’t add too many irrelevant accessory elements to the dashboard. For example, data tables have lots of viewing options—like “Zebra” color (shown above), column header background color, aligners, and toolbars—but not all of these effects should be implemented in a single component.

Remove formatting elements that add visual noise. If something feels unnecessary, it probably is and it’s not recommended to keep it in the display. Simplifying the visual aspect of the component makes it more powerful than an element that is over-embellished.

Don’t use an over abundance of colors. Like graphical embellishments, color can detract from the overall look and confuse the audience.

Do simplify the use of color. Fortifying a dashboard with a well-tested color scheme that contains fewer colors actually brings balance to the dashboard.

Example: Sans Serif font.

Example: Serif font.

Don’t use multiple font types in different component headers.

Do use consistent fonts with the same size and the same type.

Don’t use bulky font types in the legend that overwhelm the key information.

Do use a consistent font type between the legend title and legend contents. Keep the font size and font type consistent across your label text.

Don’t use inconsistent label styles between the y-axis and x-axis of your component.

Do use a consistent font type, font size, and font color between the y-axis and x-axis.

Don’t stagger the alignment of the header and content that appears in the same column.  Instead, do use left-justified headers for columns containing left-justified content, and vice versa. Right-aligned numeric columns are easier for users to compare numbers, whereas a left alignment is more natural for text columns. The new design concept for data tables in PolyAnalyst™ web reports allows users easy access to these text alignment features.