Choosing the right charts for a better dashboard experience
By: Elvis Canziba
Tags: Data Visualization, Dashboard, Charts, Resources, Dashboard Design

Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash

Data-Driven UX Design

Using a data-driven UX Design Research approach helps you demonstrate what appeals to individuals who use the product and what does not drive developing a user-centered product. It is not very unusual for a good idea not to translate well when moving from the drawing board to the real physical or digital product. Many designers begin to gather and evaluate data as they design products to minimize the likelihood of failure. The data-driven design approach allows designers to develop a more incredible picture of how their products communicate with end consumers.

Following tools are commonly used for communicating data:

Slides: It is the old school method to represent data gatherings in a visually appealing manner. Slides are easy to create and provide a static overview of the data and figures.

It is the old school method to represent data gatherings in a visually appealing manner. Slides are easy to create and provide a static overview of the data and figures. Reports: Reports use qualitative and quantitative data for analysis and make data-driven choices based on proofs and analytics. It is mostly static but can be rerun.

Reports use qualitative and quantitative data for analysis and make data-driven choices based on proofs and analytics. It is mostly static but can be rerun. Emails: Emails have a broad reach but less impact in comparison. It is considered the most formal approach in communication.

Emails have a broad reach but less impact in comparison. It is considered the most formal approach in communication. Face To Face: Face to Face communication has the most powerful impact; however, it is not convenient.

Face to Face communication has the most powerful impact; however, it is not convenient. Dashboard: The ultimate tool that automatically updates and provides self-service. It is quite interactive and keeps us sane, enabling people to scale their work. The focus of this article will be mostly on this one.

Visual Data Representation

Visualizing gathered data is an efficient method to analyze data for improving user experience. Powerful tools can be used to construct complex interfaces for data visualization, especially dashboards. Users can get an overview of all the numbers they care about.

What Are Dashboards?

The data management platform that visually monitors, analyses, and shows key performance indicators (KPIs), benchmarks, and critical data points to measure an organization’s health, department, or particular process is a data dashboard. The most robust approach to tracking various data sources is a data dashboard. It provides organizations with a single place to control and assess results. Real-time tracking eliminates the research hours and long contact lines that have previously troubled organizations.

On a dashboard, data is visualized as graphs, line maps, bar charts, and gauges so that users can monitor their company’s health against metrics and objectives. Data dashboards view the required information through visual representations to grasp, track, and optimize your company. An analytical dashboard does all of this depending on user-determined observations from data obtained over time (i.e., last month, quarter, or year).

Core-benefits of Dashboards:

Engagement

Dashboards are a great tool for keeping the user engaged with all on-going processes.

When all critical information is presented at one place inside the dashboard, users find it easy to navigate and engage with the application. Increased user engagement rates directly contribute to the success of the overall project.

Action

When users have access to all the necessary information in a smooth and easy to navigate manner, eliciting action from them becomes easy. Since users directly interact with the dashboard and utilize it for their fundamental needs, they can be prompted to take a required action through the dashboard. This ease of engagement ensures that the users remain connected and engaged in the whole experience of the product/service itself and can take action through it when needed.

Basic Chart Types & Their Usage For Data Visualization

A chart is a graphical data representation tool in which the data is portrayed through symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart. A graph may display numerical tabular data, features, or other kinds of quality structure and provide various details. Charts summarize the large data sets, which make presentations comprehensive and well-researched. They enable researchers to analyze large data sets in a matter of seconds. Following are some of the commonly used charts:

Bar Charts

A bar chart may be used to view pattern data or to compare and contrast time or various groups between different values. When seeking to quantify improvement over time, bar charts are better when the modifications are more comprehensive. In the browser, bar charts are made using SVG or VML, whichever is best for the user’s browser. Categorically there are two main types of a bar chart: horizontal bar chart and vertical bar chart.

To reflect on multi-select questions such as checkboxes, vertical bar charts are used. They can also function with a different list of response choices such as Radio Keys, Dropdown Lists, Likert, etc., to address other question types. Horizontal bar charts horizontally depict the data. It is a chart in which horizontally colored bars are drawn. The data types are displayed on the vertical axis, and on the horizontal axis, the data values are shown.