Hello everyone! Welcome to part three of the dashboard design series. So far we already discussed the advantages of applying whitespace and proper text use in your dashboards. Moving on, this blog post will be about the right chart choice , which is also part of the best practices with respect to dashboard design.
Why? So why should you spend a minute or two on the decision for the chart type? Simply answered, the chart type you chose plays an important factor on how effective your dashboard story is communicated to the user. In other words, the better your charts the more convincing your story. And who does not want to make convincing dashboards? However, different chart types have different strengths. For instance, some charts are more suited for comparisons while others are more fitting to display distributions. Hence, it can be difficult to choose the right chart if you do not know where to start.
How? By now you probably wonder how to chose the right charts for your visualizations. And honestly, there is hardly a way around practicing chart choice to get a feel what works and what does not. However, there are fortunately some amazing sources that can support you in finding the right chart type.
So whenever you want to make convincing dashboard stories and are in dire need of inspiration you can consult the dashboards/websites for quick help. Note that you do not have to nail every chart you produce. It is common practice to produce several visualizations from whom you only use you a part. However, the resources ideally guide you to charts that are more likely to work. Happy vizzing!
Cheers, Tobias