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Data Science & Analytics

Visualization & SQL

Dashboards That Communicate

7 min+70 XPStep 1/10

A dashboard is an argument

Most dashboards fail the same way: every metric anyone might want, arranged by whichever chart fit the grid. The result is a data browser, not a decision tool.

A communicating dashboard has a hierarchy: the number that matters most is biggest and top-left; supporting detail is smaller and below. A sales dashboard that leads with 'revenue vs. target, this quarter' and demotes the 14 secondary charts earns its pixels.

Three questions sort any dashboard:

  • Who looks at this, and what decision do they make from it?
  • What's the one number they'd check first?
  • What will they ask next — and is the answer one click away or already visible?

analogy

A dashboard without hierarchy is a newspaper where every story prints at the same size. Readers can't find the headline — so they stop reading.