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How will the color of 2019 influence your dashboard design ?

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Admin May 3, 2023 0 Comments

Pantone picked ‘Living Coral’ as the 2019 ‘Color of the Year”! What follows next is surely a range of consumer products that will reflect this color. As we all gravitate to familiarity, it makes me wonder if our business users will respond better if we use this color on our dashboards?

In general, what do you do if your stake holders ask for specific colors on your dashboard? How would you navigate those design sessions?

Most justifications for requesting specific shades of colors on dashboards originate from creating a sense of branding.

While I am not opposed to branding, the most branding element I consider on the dashboard is the corporate logo and anything beyond that has not shown to add value to adoption rates.

IMHO successful dashboards are based on the following elements:

  1. Story boarding: The flow of information on the dashboard should follow a story line. Without a context there is will be no relevance and you will lose the user’s attention.
  2. There is no substitute for presenting accurate, actionable information. Incomplete information is a deterrent! Start with the summary but allow drill down to details
  3. Keep it simple. Simple dashboards need not be boring. There are excellent visualizations that can render data in an interesting way to keep the users engaged.
  4. Related metrics should share visual characteristics, such as color, chart type, or proximity. Being consistent with the colors.
  5. Select visuals that communicate information without the need for guesswork. (Psst…Limit/avoid if Pie charts if you can!)
  6. Finally – give your dashboard a personality through colors but pick a palette that communicates contrasts and is not visually straining.

There are several other tips that the industry pundits like Stephen Few have written on effective dashboard design that you should consider reading/re-reading in some cases. Include those fundamentals in your design.

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