Mastering Data Visualization: Unveiling the Best-Designed Dashboards

In the modern world, data reigns supreme. The best-designed dashboards, therefore, strike a tricky balance between being aesthetically pleasing and actionable.

Dashboards help showcase trends in key performance indicators (KPIs) and business performance. They are also a great way to divulge crucial insights from data.

However, for dashboards to be properly designed, the data source(s) have to be clean and reliable. Even if you design the most aesthetically pleasing dashboard based on untrustworthy data, then it’s not helpful.

In this article, we delve into the world of best-designed dashboards. We begin by defining them and learning why they’re important. We’ll then look at the benefits of using a well-designed dashboard.

We’ll explore the elements of a well-designed dashboard and the best practices to follow when designing one.

We’ll also discuss how to design the best dashboard in Power BI. Eventually, respond to questions you might still have about the best-designed dashboards.

Table of Contents:

1. What is the Best Dashboard?
2. Why are Best Designed Dashboards Important?
3. Benefits of Using a Well-Designed Dashboard
4. Elements of a Best-Designed Dashboard
5. Best Practices for Designing the Best Dashboard
6. How to Design the Best Dashboard in Power BI?
7. Wrap Up

What is the Best Dashboard?

The best dashboard summarizes key insights and trends for the target audience. The summary is done in a user-friendly and easy-to-understand way.

Here are other characteristics of the best dashboard:

• It has a clearly defined goal.
• It is meant to serve a specific audience.
• It uses trustworthy data sources.
• Contains actionable data.
• Is suited for your specific business or data context.

Why are Best Designed Dashboards Important?

The best-designed dashboards are a great tool in every business’ arsenal. This is because they:

• Help answer specific data questions in a business context. For example, what was the revenue growth this quarter compared to the last one?
• Can easily be integrated into business processes.
• Can help get everyone on the same page.
• Can help streamline data management processes within an organization.
• Can help support decision-making.

Benefits of Using a Well-Designed Dashboard

There are several benefits to using a well-designed dashboard. These include:

• It can help your team take prompt action. For example, an alert system for a client’s one-month sales follow-up call.
• Can help monitor and identify issues that should be addressed within an organization. For example, a sudden decrease in revenue. The team can then find the root cause and address it.
• Can be used to give updates to various stakeholders or even to pitch to potential customers.
• They are a great way to present data that might be complex to understand.
• They help highlight business or organization KPIs in a centralized place.

Elements of a Best-Designed Dashboard

The best-designed dashboards share some key elements, including:

• They’re aesthetically pleasing
• They’re user-friendly
• They use a consistent color scheme and style
• They use plenty of white space around the visuals
• They make use of borders around the visuals
• They focus on only a few critical metrics
• They’re easily scannable (shows the most important data at a glance)

Best Practices for Designing the Best Dashboard

There are a few things to keep in mind when designing the best dashboard. These include:

• Understanding the Intended Audience

The audience that you are designing the dashboard for will determine crucial aspects. These include the data sources you go with or the metrics or KPIs to focus on.

• Understanding the Goal the Dashboard Intends to Achieve

The goal a dashboard intends to achieve will help you know how to package your data story. If you want to showcase revenue in real-time, for example, you’ll know what important aspects to highlight.

• Ensuring Data Integrity

Even the best-designed web analytics dashboards won’t be helpful if you do not have trustworthy data. Always work with reliable data sources. You also need to transform your data before creating your dashboard.

• Sticking to your organization’s brand

Ensure that you use colors, gradients, fonts, and logos that align with the company’s brand. This helps to keep your dashboard consistent.

• Allowing for Further Data Exploration

Add features to help your audience further interact with the dashboard. These include slicers, filtering, and drill-through.

• Streamlining your ETL Processes

All of the datasets you use for your dashboards can use your ETL processes if you streamline them.

• Limiting the Number of Visuals on a Page

Ensure that your dashboards are not crowded. This allows the audience to focus better on the visualizations.

How to Design the Best Dashboard in Power BI?

In this section, we learn more about Power BI dashboard design for the best-designed dashboards. We’ll use the Sankey Diagram (Sankey Chart) as a Power BI business dashboard example.

Stage 1: Logging in to Power BI

• Log in to Power BI.
• Enter your email. Click the “Submit” button.

• You are redirected to your Microsoft account.
• Enter your password and click “Sign in”.

• Choose whether to stay signed in.

• Once done, the Power BI home screen will open.

Stage 2: Creating a Data Set and Selecting the Data Set to Use in Your Sankey Chart

• Click on the “Create” option on the left-side menu.
• Select ”Paste or manually enter data“.

• We’ll use the following customer shopping dataset.

Shopping_mall	Gender	Category	Payment method	Quantity
Kanyon	Female	Clothing	Credit Card	5
Forum Istanbul	Male	Shoes	Debit Card	3
Metrocity	Male	Clothing	Cash	1
Metropol AVM	Female	Shoes	Credit Card	5
Kanyon	Female	Books	Cash	4
Forum Istanbul	Female	Clothing	Credit Card	5
Istinye Park	Female	Cosmetics	Cash	1
Mall of Istanbul	Female	Clothing	Credit Card	2
Metrocity	Male	Clothing	Credit Card	3
Kanyon	Female	Clothing	Credit Card	2
Metrocity	Female	Food & Beverage	Cash	2
Emaar Square Mall	Female	Books	Credit Card	1
Metrocity	Female	Toys	Debit Card	4
Cevahir AVM	Male	Clothing	Cash	2
Kanyon	Female	Clothing	Credit Card	2
Viaport Outlet	Male	Shoes	Credit Card	5
Metrocity	Male	Books	Debit Card	2
Zorlu Center	Female	Food & Beverage	Credit Card	3
Metropol AVM	Female	Clothing	Cash	2
Cevahir AVM	Male	Toys	Cash	4
Emaar Square Mall	Male	Clothing	Credit Card	1
Cevahir AVM	Female	Food & Beverage	Cash	1
Cevahir AVM	Male	Clothing	Credit Card	2

• Paste the above data table into the “Power Query” window.

• Click on the “Data Hub” option on the left-side menu.
• Power BI populates the data set list. (If you have not created a data set, refer to the Error! Reference source not found section.)
• The data details are shown below:

• Click on the “Create a report” dropdown as shown below.
• Select “Start from scratch.”

• You should see the Report Canvas screen as shown below:

Stage 3: Adding the Power BI Sankey Diagram Extension by ChartExpo

• To finish creating our Sankey Diagram, we’ll use an add-in or Power BI visual from AppSource.
• Navigate to the Power BI Visualizations panel.
• Click the ellipsis (…) highlighted above to import the Power BI Sankey Diagram extension by ChartExpo.

• The following menu opens:
• Select the “Get more visuals” option.
• The following window opens:

• Enter “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” in the highlighted search box.
• You should see the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo”, as shown in the image below.

• Click the highlighted “Add” button.

• Power BI will add the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” icon in the visualization panel.

Stage 4: Drawing a Sankey Diagram with ChartExpo’s Power BI extension

• Select the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” icon in the visualization panel.
• The following window opens in the report section of your dashboard:

• You can resize the visual as needed.
• Go to the right-hand side of your Power BI dashboard.

• You’ll select the fields to use in your Sankey chart here.
• The ChartExpo visual needs to be selected, though.
• Select the fields in the following sequence:
  • Category
  • Gender
  • Payment method
  • Quantity
  • Shopping_mall

• You’ll be asked for a ChartExpo license key or email address.

Stage 5: Activate your ChartExpo Trial or Apply a Subscription Key

• Select the ChartExpo visual.
• You should see three icons below “Build Visual” in the Visualizations panel.

• Select the middle icon, “Format visual.”
• The visual properties will be populated as shown below.

• If you are a new user,
  • Type in your email under the section titled “Trial Mode”.
  • This should be the email address that you used to subscribe to the ChartExpo add-in. It is where your ChartExpo license key will be sent.
  • Ensure that your email address is valid.
  • Click “Enable Trial.” You’ll get a 7-day trial.

• You should receive a welcome email from ChartExpo.
• The Sankey Diagram you create under the 7-day trial contains the ChartExpo watermark (see below).

• If you have obtained a license key:
  • Enter your license key in the “ChartExpo License Key” textbox in the “License Settings” section (see below).
  • Slide the toggle switch next to “Enable License” to “On“.

• To add colors, expand the “Level Colors” properties and select a color.
• Do this to change the color of each node.
• All changes are automatically saved.

• Automatically all changes will be saved.

Insights

• At level 1, Category, clothes were the most purchased item (43.55%). Shoes came in second with 20.97% of the total items. Cosmetics had the fewest purchases (1.61%).
• At level 2, Gender, females purchased the most items (63%). Males purchased 37% of the total items.
• At level 3, the Payment method, the majority of the customers opted for credit cards to purchase items (58%). Cash was the second most preferred method at 27%. The smallest percentage of customers (15%) used debit cards for their payments.
• At level 4, Shopping_mall, the majority of the customers chose to shop at Kanyon Mall (21%). Cevahir AVM ranked second in customer shopping preferences, with 15% of the shoppers. Istinye Park Mall, had the lowest customer turnout, accounting for 2% of the total customers.

FAQs

How Do I Create an Impactful Dashboard?

To create an impactful dashboard, you need to have the following in mind:

• The target audience
• The goal the dashboard is meant to achieve
• The data story you want to tell
• The integrity of your data
• The visual appeal of your dashboard

Which Tool is Best for Dashboards?

There are many tools that you can use for your dashboards. These include:

• Power BI
• Tableau
• AppSmith
• Retool

Wrap Up

The significance of well-designed dashboards in today’s data-driven world cannot be ignored.

These data visualization tools are invaluable assets to organizations across various industries. They empower users to make informed decisions, foster transparency, enhance productivity, and gain a competitive edge.

Good dashboard design offers a comprehensive platform for data communication through the utilization of key elements. Key elements include data visualizations, user-friendly design, and security measures.

Users can access critical information quickly and delve deeper to uncover key insights. In doing so, they have a better understanding of trends and KPIs. This leads to more efficient operations and strategic choices.

Great dashboard design is the driving force behind an organization’s ability to harness the power of data. This makes dashboards indispensable in the quest for success and innovation.