Dashboard
Design and Development
IT 7113 Data Visualization
http://idi.kennesaw.edu/it7113/
J.G. Zheng
Spring 2022
https://www.edocr.com/v/9oqqrzoo/jgzheng/designing-dashboards
Overview
• Six elements of dashboard design
• Other design topics (briefly covered)
– Design process and methodology
– Development tools
– Prototyping and wireframing
• Dashboard design principles and overarching
guidelines
• Dashboard design patterns and best practices. We
will focus on the following areas in this course:
– Layout (separate lecture notes in this module
https://www.edocr.com/v/pb9delzd/jgzheng/dashboard-
layout)
– Interactivity (as part of module 9)
How to Develop Dashboards?
1. Structural aspect (the focus of this lecture notes)
– I have summarized six major elements in dashboard design
– How are they related?
2. Procedural/engineering aspect - process
– What are the tasks and steps in development? What are the
activities and how they are sequenced?
– How to manage development projects?
[+1] In addition: technology and tool aspect
– What tools to choose?
• Overall, the development knowledge is summarized in a set of
principles, patterns, best practices, and tools.
This is a broad question that can be thought from two (+1)
aspects of development.
Six Elements of Dashboard Design
Element
Description
1
Goals and objectives
Setting the context, goals and objectives
2
Data/information design
Selection of data and metrics
3
Visualization design
Selection of data presentation/visualization forms
and styles
4
UI design
How objects are arranged on the screen for utility
and usability
5
Interaction design
Interactions and actions that supports exploration
and analytical behaviors
6
Supporting features (non-
functional) design
Print, export, share, etc.
1. Goals and Objectives
• Goals and objectives are the starting point of dashboard
development. It is critical to design an effective dashboard.
– A goal is a high-level overview, and it usually can be expressed in
one or two sentences.
– Objectives are more specific and