Designing Better Dashboards: How Norman's Design Principles Transform Data Analytics

Analysts, accountants, and advisors are often responsible for processing data and delivering the results in ways that are more useful. These deliverables may include reports, dashboards, models, notifications, or even custom software.

The usability of these “data products” can greatly impact efficiency and decision-making.

Donald Norman's principles of design, originally intended for everyday objects, are surprisingly relevant and transformative when applied to the data products, such as dashboards.

By understanding and integrating Norman's principles of design, we can improve the user experience, turning complex data analytics into a more intuitive, engaging, and productive endeavor.

Common Design Challenges in Dashboards

Design challenges can impair the usefulness and usability of dashboards. Recognizing these issues helps in understanding the importance of thoughtful design.

• Overload of Information: One of the most prevalent issues in dashboard design is the tendency to overload users with data. When too much information is presented without clear prioritization, it can lead to confusion and make it difficult for users to find what they need.

• Lack of Contextual Clarity: Dashboards that fail to provide context for the data can leave users puzzled about the significance of the metrics presented. Without clear explanations or logical grouping, understanding the full story behind the data becomes challenging.

• Inconsistent Design Elements: Inconsistencies in design, such as varying color schemes, fonts, or control layouts, can disrupt the user’s learning process. Such inconsistencies often lead to a steeper learning curve and hinder efficient analysis.

• Poor Responsiveness and Feedback: Dashboards that are slow to respond or do not provide clear feedback on user actions can be frustrating. This lack of responsiveness can undermine the user experience, leading to decreased engagement.

• Complex Navigation: When users struggle to navigate a dashboard due to complex or non-intuitive design, it significantly hampers the usability. Complex navigation systems can make it difficult to perform even simple analysis tasks.

• Limited Customization Options: The inability to customize and filter data according to specific user needs can limit the dashboard’s effectiveness. Users often require the flexibility to view data in a way that best suits their specific analysis needs.

• Inadequate Error Handling: A dashboard that does not effectively handle errors (like periods without data or undefined division by zero) or guide users in correcting them can lead to misinformation and incorrect data interpretation.

Benefits of Good Design

Clarity and simplicity of user interfaces are important for supporting data interpretation. Well-designed dashboards make analysis more engaging and less confusing for users, even those with less expertise on the subject data. A user-friendly interface also reduces cognitive load, allowing users to focus on accurately interpreting story behind the data rather than using energy and focus on trying to understand what is being presented.

Good design supports time savings by streamlining data navigation and interpretation. Intuitive dashboards can substantially reduce the time spent on data management, enhancing overall productivity. By reducing the need for extensive training and frequent consulting of help resources, well-designed interfaces enable users to focus more on analysis and less on software mechanics.

Good design in data visualization tools is key to reducing errors. Dashboards that logically present information and minimize ambiguity decrease the likelihood of misinterpretation, incorrect data entry, and oversight of critical information. This attention to design detail is especially vital in fields where precision is crucial, such as operations management, financial reporting, and compliance.

Clear and intuitive dashboards that highlight key metrics and trends empower users to make better-informed decisions. Good design ensures that crucial information is readily accessible and easy to interpret, which supports strategic planning and effective management across various business sectors.

Introduction to Norman's Principles of Design

Donald Norman, a cognitive scientist, laid out six key principles that shape user-friendly design in his book The Design of Everyday Things:

1. Visibility: Making essential functions easily seen and understood.

2. Feedback: Providing clear reactions to user actions.

3. Affordance: Designing elements to suggest their function.

4. Mapping: Making the relationship between controls and effects clear.

5. Constraint: Limiting user actions to reduce errors.

6. Consistency: Utilizing similar design patterns to make learning easier.

These principles focus on user needs and capabilities, which are directly relevant for creating effective and intuitive interfaces in dashboards and other data products.

Applying Norman's Principles to Dashboard Design

The integration of Donald Norman's design principles into dashboard design is helpful for enhancing user experience and efficiency. Here's how these principles can be specifically applied to dashboards:

Visibility: Optimizing Data Presentation

Design dashboards to prominently display vital information. Consider putting the most important information where users look first, such as the upper-left corner. Utilize clear common visualizations, such as number tiles, column charts and line charts, to highlight key metrics. Effective use of color coding and interactive elements can make crucial data easily noticeable, facilitating quick comprehension and analysis. Avoid red for non-negative financial values.

Feedback: Providing Instant Interaction Responses

Dashboards should offer immediate and clear feedback in response to user interactions. Consider timestamps that state the last time of a data refresh for dashboards that are updated periodically. Instant updates of charts driven by filters and sliders also make dashboards more intuitive and user-friendly.

Affordance: Crafting Intuitive Interactive Elements

Interactive elements on the dashboard, like buttons or sliders, should be designed to clearly indicate how they can be used. Funnel icons are commonly used to indicate filtering. Sliders are common for ranges of values or dates. Dropdowns and expansions are typically indicated by disclosure triangles.

Checkboxes are frequently understood, but if holding down CTRL is necessary for multiple selections, users might not know it. Use buttons carefully, as their function may not be obvious.

Mapping: Clarifying Control-Effect Relationships

Ensure that the dashboard layout logically connects user actions with their effects. For instance, the position and arrangement of filters should directly relate to the changes they make in the displayed data.

Controls for a single visualization should probably be located right next to the affected visualization. Controls that affect all the visualizations on the page may be best located all together in on the top or side of a page. Be cautious about filters that impact some visualizations but not others on the same page.

Constraint: Simplifying Choices to Enhance Accuracy

Apply constraints within the dashboard to limit user options and guide interactions. This might involve disabling or removing irrelevant controls, creating separate view or pages for different content, or funneling user actions through a guided process. These constraints can help prevent errors and streamline the data analysis process.

Consistency: Ensuring Uniformity Across the Dashboard

Maintain consistent design elements throughout the dashboard, such as a coherent color scheme, typography, and layout. Avoid too many colors or fonts on a single page. Using company colors may be desirable, but not all colors are well suited for dashboards. Creating templates or wireframes in Miro may help in designing consistently across pages and views.

Additional Practices for Improving Dashboards

Collaborate with design professionals when developing dashboards. Their insights into user-centered design can transform a functional dashboard into one that's both powerful and intuitive. This collaboration is helpful for creating interfaces that balance data complexity with user accessibility.

Practice presenting the dashboard to yourself or your design team. Imagine you are the dashboard’s user and that you are explaining the current results to the user’s team. Start in the upper-left hand corner and explain the situation, emphasizing the important decisions. Is the message easy to explain? Does the story flow across the page and down the screen in an F-shaped pattern?

Perhaps most important of all, continuously gather user feedback and implement it in the design process. The ongoing cycle of feedback and improvement ensures that the dashboard evolves to more accurately reflect user needs and preferences, leading to a more effective data interaction experience.

Conclusion

The application of Norman's principles in dashboards offers a pathway to more intuitive, efficient, and effective data analysis. Embracing these principles can transform your users’ analytics experience, leading to better decision-making and business success.

Consider actively apply Norman's design principles. Start by evaluating your current dashboards against these principles. Where do you see opportunities for improvement? Remember, great design is not just about aesthetics; it's about creating functional and user-friendly experiences that drive better decisions and business success.