Information Management – Dashboards
I borrowed the illustrations below from the latest copy of Information Management in an article by Aaron Hursman.
The first info graphic below shows how the stop light-type chart tends to distract by showing too much. You can make out the red circle, but since there is so many other colors and circles, it distracts from being able to focus on a few important points.
On the other hand, the graphic below shows how efficient it can be to highlight only exceptions or radical numbers. The downside is you lose the yellow colored circles that may denote a potential problem. One solution for this would be to have it interactive where one could select Red, green or yellow. I know this isn’t a real example, but sticking with the concept, this method can really help to key the audience in on specific areas you want them to focus on.
With the visualization below, you can see how the artificial glare in the pie chart distracts the reader and actually makes it look like it’s a segment or grouping. Adding “flash” or other bling to charts is rarely a good idea. One other quick question, where is the slice for “Closeout” in blue?
I would agree that the graph is an improvement over the table below. However, I’m still not a huge fan of the bullet charts when you put many of them together. I just find myself going back and forth from the chart to the legend. Maybe it’s just me with a bad short term memory. This chart is good for an analyst, but for someone at a higher level it may be too much. Actually, I favor percentages when illustrating a comparison to prior year or plan. The takeaway here is that the chart is better than the table, but know your audience and try to add value by pointing out the areas of excellence or concern for the audience.
December 7th, 2010 at 10:18 am
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December 7th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
I don’t think highlighting versus not-highlighting needs to be an either-or proposition only addressable via interactivity. If you go for red-orange-yellow-white, instead of red-yellow-green, you can have a non-interactive display showing four alert levels, with easy perception of where the danger spots are.
That needs a client who doesn’t stick stubbornly to traffic lights, and sadly some do. I’ve tried using desaturated greens and yellows next to higly saturated bright reds, with limited success.