Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data

Stephen Few

O'Reilly Media, Incorporated, 2006 - Computers - 211 pages

Dashboards have become popular in recent years as uniquely powerful tools for communicating important information at a glance. Although dashboards are potentially powerful, this potential is rarely realized. The greatest display technology in the world won't solve this if you fail to use effective visual design. And if a dashboard fails to tell you precisely what you need to know in an instant, you'll never use it, even if it's filled with cute gauges, meters, and traffic lights. Don't let your investment in dashboard technology go to waste.

This book will teach you the visual design skills you need to create dashboards that communicate clearly, rapidly, and compellingly. Information Dashboard Design will explain how to:

• Avoid the thirteen mistakes common to dashboard design
• Provide viewers with the information they need quickly and clearly
• Apply what we now know about visual perception to the visual presentation of information
• Minimize distractions, cliches, and unnecessary embellishments that create confusion
• Organize business information to support meaning and usability
• Create an aesthetically pleasing viewing experience
• Maintain consistency of design to provide accurate interpretation
• Optimize the power of dashboard technology by pairing it with visual effectiveness

Stephen Few has over 20 years of experience as an IT innovator, consultant, and educator. As Principal of the consultancy Perceptual Edge, Stephen focuses on data visualization for analyzing and communicating quantitative business information. He provides consulting and training services, speaks frequently at conferences, and teaches in the MBA program at the University of California in Berkeley. He is also the author of Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten. Visit his website at www.perceptualedge.com.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - scottjpearson - LibraryThing

Dashboards are a hot topic in our information-laden world. They are imagined by those in the design world (often very poorly) and implemented by programmers who do not take their imagination any ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - dvf1976 - LibraryThing

I checked this book out of the library because one of my tasks this fiscal year is to create an Executive Dashboard for one of my managers. This book has a lot of useful display techniques, but doesn't discuss as much about *what* to display or *how to derive* what to display.

About the author

Stephen Few has over 20 years of experience as an innovator, consultant, and educator in the fields of business intelligence (a.k.a. data warehousing and decision support) and information design. Through his company, Perceptual Edge, he focuses on the effective analysis and presentation quantitative business information. Stephen is recognized as a world leader in the field of data visualization. He teaches regularly at conferences such as those presented by The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) and DCI, and also in the MBA program at the Haas School of Business at U. C. Berkeley. He is also the author of the book "Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten" (Analytics Press).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data; O'Reilly Series
• Author: Stephen Few
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Incorporated, 2006
• ISBN: 0596100167, 9780596100162
• Length: 211 pages
• Subjects: Computers / Desktop Applications / Presentation Software; Computers / Interactive & Multimedia; Computers / Software Development & Engineering / General; Photography / General; Photography / Techniques / General