Enterprise Dashboard Digest

Screenshots of business dashboards are heavily used in dashboard documentation such as help files and user documentation. Especially with business intelligence dashboards, a picture is worth 1000 words of description. With all that goes on with complex dashboard layouts and screen regions, there is simply no way to describe a dashboard screen without the use of screen capture.

Take a look at this layout and note the use of a lightbox-based technology to pop up large dashboard screenshots when you click on the matching thumbnail. Use this link to give it a try for yourself.

Dashboard thumbnail popups

I rather like this design solution and how it lets you browse to what you want while using minimal space. The large “plus sign” graphic works well to inform the user that they should click on the image to magnify it. I could also see the use of a magnifying glass icon instead of the plus sign.

Of course this design solution is suitable for screen-based this place and not paper-based support documents or paper-based manuals.

Dashboard Spy Resource Tip: The No Nonsense Guide to Using The Right Colors. (Via Kajabi)

This handy guide to color usage comes from the folks at Kajabi. They claim that research reveals that 93% of our decision-making comes from how something looks. 85% of that group say that “color” is the reason they chose a certain product.

I find these guidelines to be a good summary of color characteristics.

Check out the graphic below.

If you want a higher resolution version for your reference, use this link:

The Meaning of Colors

Dashboard Spy Readers: This excellent design reference makes a great crash course in user interface design for business dashboard applications. I’ll show you where to download it but first let me share the table of contents:

• Human Factors: The Theory Behind Interface Design
• Design Principles
• Advance Organizers
• Affordances
• Chunking
• Aesthetic – Usability Effect
• Physical Constraints
• Psychological Constraints
• Entry Point
• Figure-Ground Relationship
• Fitts’ Law
• Hick’s Law
• Flexibility-Usability Tradeoff
• Navigation Hierarchies
• Hierarchy of Needs
• Interface Design
• Schneiderman’s Rules for Interface Design
• The Myth of the Metaphor
• Images
• Perception
• Gestalt Laws of Organization
• Color Theory
• Color Applied
• Graphic Design
• Light Source
• The Phi Ratio (Golden Mean)
• Language and Fonts

Download the guide here: Dashboard Design Reference

Here’s a snippet of the excellent content:

Human Factors: the Theory Behind Interface Design

The study of human interaction with technology, known as “Human Factors,” approaches design issues based on the use, rather than the potential, of the end product. By using principles determined through this study of Human Factors to guide their interface designs, designers can focus on what the client needs, rather than what the technology will allow. This is important because the control interface is the point of access to the AV system and the most critical element in determining success.

The study of Human Factors stems from three fundamental “laws”.

Moore’s Law: The growth of technology is a function of time; there will be more technology tomorrow than there is today.

Buxton’s Law of Promised Functionality: The functionality promised by technology will grow proportionally with Moore’s Law; there is going to be more functionality promised or offered tomorrow, than there is today.

God’s Law (Buxton’s interpretation): Human capacity is limited and does not increase over time; our neurons do not fire faster, our memory doesn’t increase in capacity, and we do not learn or think faster as time progresses. In fact, for individuals the opposite is true (Buxton 2001).

The interpretation of these “laws” is best described by Human Factors’ proponent and author, Alan Cooper, who concludes that when we combine a computer with anything, we create yet another computer with even greater complexity (Cooper 1999). While engineers may increase features to remain competitive, the human capacity to control technology remains constant and limited. This paper reviews some of the philosophies embraced by Human Factors’ proponents, expands upon their guidelines and extrapolates applicable elements to AV control interface design.

Check out the reference.

Hubert Lee
The Dashboard Spy