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Designing Dashboards that Deliver

September 2025
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Summary

Designing dashboards that effectively communicate data insights is essential for organizations. The session explored common challenges in dashboard design, such as user confusion and dashboard overload, and provided strategies to create impactful dashboards. Experts Amanda Makulec, Andy Cotgreave, Jeffrey Shaffer, and Steve Wexler shared insights from their book "Dashboards That Deliver," discussing a framework for successful dashboard design. They emphasized the importance of understanding user needs, prototyping, and iterative development. Real-world examples from various industries illustrated the application of these principles, highlighting the need for dashboards to be user-centric and adaptable.

Key Takeaways:

  • Understanding user needs is essential for effective dashboard design.
  • Prototyping and iterative development enhance dashboard usability.
  • Dashboards should be adaptable to changing user requirements.
  • Real-world examples demonstrate the application of design principles.
  • Effective dashboards require a balance of aesthetics and functionality.

Deep Dives

Understanding User Needs

Understanding the needs of the dashboard's end-users is a foundational step in creating effective data visualizations. Amanda Makulec emphasized the importance of the discovery phase, where designers assess user requirements and define the problem the dashboard aims to solve. This phase involves gathering insights from potential users and narrowing down the primary requirements. "Many dashboards fail because they skip the conversations that inform what we build," Makulec noted. By using tools like user stories, designers can ensure that the dashboard aligns ...
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with user expectations and provides actionable insights.

Prototyping and Iterative Development

Prototyping is a critical step that allows designers to test ideas and gather feedback before full-scale development. Amanda Makulec highlighted the value of creating low to high-fidelity prototypes to refine the dashboard's design. This process helps in identifying the most effective ways to visualize data and ensures that the final product meets user needs. Andy Cotgreave shared his experience with a personal fitness tracking dashboard, illustrating how continuous prototyping and iteration led to a more focused and user-friendly design. "Dashboards are never done," Cotgreave remarked, emphasizing the importance of ongoing refinement.

Real-World Applications

The session featured several real-world examples demonstrating the application of the dashboard design framework. Jeffrey Shaffer discussed a project with the nonprofit Splash, where dashboards were used to track clean water initiatives in schools. The design process involved close collaboration with stakeholders to ensure the dashboards met specific requirements. Steve Wexler presented the Children's Hospital Association dashboard, which used a series of interconnected dashboards to cater to different user personas. These examples highlighted the adaptability of dashboards to various contexts and the importance of aligning design with user needs.

Balancing Aesthetics and Functionality

A successful dashboard balances aesthetics with functionality, ensuring that it is both visually appealing and informative. The experts discussed the role of branding and color schemes in enhancing dashboard design. Jeffrey Shaffer shared how the Splash project incorporated vibrant colors to align with the organization's branding while maintaining clarity and usability. Steve Wexler emphasized that dashboards should make the user the hero of the narrative, using design elements to draw attention to key insights. This balance helps in creating dashboards that are not only engaging but also effective in delivering insights.

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