9 Dashboard Design Principles: See Them in Action with Real Examples

Dashboard design principles are all very well, but what do they look like in practice?

This blog will walk you through nine golden rules, with a real-life dashboard example for each.

1. Decide What You Want Your Dashboard to Do

Before you start building your dashboard, decide what it’s for, and who it’s for.

Will the whole company be looking at it, or just one team? And what actions do you want people to take after looking at it?

Maybe you want to rally your team around a specific goal and show them their impact. Perhaps you want problems to be spotted faster. Or maybe you just want to be more transparent about what’s happening in your business.

These are just some of the use-cases illustrated in this post.

2. Only Include What Matters

A dashboard isn’t like a noticeboard where you share anything interesting. It should only include things that really matter to your business.

If you have goals and KPIs then these are a great place to start. Just make sure that they support your overall objective.

3. Use Size and Position to Make Priorities Clear

Anything you include on your dashboard should be important, but some things will be slightly less important than others. To make priorities clear to your team, you can use size and position.

Your most important metric should go in the top left corner where the eyes go first.

4. Give Your Numbers a Frame of Reference

Some numbers need a yardstick so your team can tell if they’re good or bad. An obvious one to add is past data.

Aside from past data, you could also display an average for extra context. Or, if you’ve set a goal you could display the target as a yardstick, alongside your current progress.

5. Group Connected Metrics

Grouping related metrics logically helps teams find what they need at a glance.

6. Keep It Uniform

If you’re displaying slight variations on the same metric, your dashboard may feel slightly repetitive.

7. Label Things Clearly for Your Team

Labels are an easy way to make your metrics and charts instantly understandable for your team.

8. Round Your Numbers

You want stakeholders to know that the information on your dashboard is accurate.

9. Keep Developing Your Dashboard

Building dashboards is easy, but finding the perfect combination of metrics that trigger positive changes is a never-ending quest.

See dashboarding as a fluid process, and learn which metrics work and don't work along the way.