Information Dashboard Design
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.
Stats for nerds
25recommend
35mentions
30people
2008–2024years
86% recommend14% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- If you found this interesting and you do any data visualization work in your life, I can highly recommend Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few and The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte. While some of the examples certainly appear dated these days, the concepts, best practices, and approaches to data visualization outlined in these books, such as the concept of data-ink and non data-ink, are timeless in my opinion. I actually can't remember how many times I've bought these books as I now work as an engineering manager and have the habit of giving away my copies to new developers.
- Can't go wrong with Tufte, but I'm also partial to Stephen Few for a more pragmatic approach ("Show Me the Numbers", "Information Dashboard Design").
- "Information Dashboard Design" by Stephen Few was the book that got me rolling. A good mixture of what and why.
- I would strongly suggest perusing through the resources of Stephen Few over at Perceptual Edge.
Library: http://www.perceptualedge.com/library.php
You could do a lot worse than becoming familiar with Few's "Information Dashboard Design" book, and the Perceptual Edge blog contains a wealth of material, some of which ended up in his subsequent books.
Older posts on his blog also include reviews of different author's books, often having to do with cognition or analysis related topics which are also informative. Seems he has retired from his consultant business and now blogs at: http://www.stephen-few.com
Here's one of his whitepapers you may find helpful: https://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/Whitepapers/Formatti...
- Good additions. For report design I found the book "Information Dashboard Design" by Stephen Few valuable. It talks about actionable data and has many examples.
- See instead
Tufte, Edward: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (and the followup books)
Few, Stephen: Information Dashboard Design
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