What makes dashboards so appealing to the human mind? We love dashboards because they help us establish a sense of control. Good dashboard design offers this sense of control in three ways: it gives us a clear understanding of the current situation, the resources to predict and plan for the future, and it helps us complete critical tasks in time. These, and the 'context' and work routine in which a dashboard will get used, are things not to loose sight of when working on dashboard functionality, UI and UX. ( This slideshow is a summary from the article on Dashboards & creating a Sense of Control at http://www.keek.be/2014/designing-dashboards-for-a-sense-of-control/ )

1. Designing Dashboards for a Sense of
Control

2. What makes dashboards
so appealing to the human mind?

3. They offer us a
SENSE OF CONTROL
By presenting lots of information in a digestible form,
by allowing us to identify trends, and by
allowing us to spot when something is off,
dashboards help establish a sense of control.

4. Need for Control is an evolutionary thing.
CONTROL OF OUR
ENVIRONMENT
BETTER CHANCE
AT SURVIVAL
If we
are in
then we
stand a
(Hence, when feeling not in control, we tend to become stressed.)

5. DASHBOARD 1. DASHBOARDS
STRATEGIES
TO ESTABLISH
A SENSE OF
give you a clear understanding of things
to help establish a feeling of certainty.
2. DASHBOARDS
give you the resources to predict and
plan for the future.
3. DASHBOARDS
help you complete critical tasks in
time to avoid last-minute panic.
CONTROL
by @Shilpi1412

6. Dashboards allow us
to juggle more information
than our brains can save,
recall, process, compare,
connect, .. at a given time.

7. 1.
DASHBOARDS GIVE YOU A CLEAR
UNDERSTANDING OF THINGS TO HELP
ESTABLISH A FEELING OF CERTAINTY

8. UNDERSTANDING
DESIGN FOR REASSURANCE
Our dashboards should offer us the same reassurance routine does. We look
at operational dashboards for confirmation that the situation is in hand.
Dashboards should be designed in such a way, that at a glance, people can
be certain everything is normal.

9. UNDERSTANDING
WATCHDOG ROLE
Operational dashboards also have a 'ʹwatchdog role'ʹ. If something is not
(numbers are up or down, an routine event that normally happens but did
not, ..) this should be brought to our aDention immediately and actionably.

10. UNDERSTANDING
RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Actionable means a user should be able to get further information on the
deviation. Take them directly to the most detailed info on the issue at hand
available, so they can understand. From there, give them the opportunity to
zoom out, to get to the bigger picture. Become a user'ʹs research assistant.

11. 2.
DASHBOARDS GIVE YOU THE RESOURCES
TO PREDICT AND PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

12. PREDICT & PLAN
• For operational dashboards, show the current trends.
• For analytics dashboards, make it easy to compare periods or events, and
assist the user in identifying paDerns and opportunities.
• Show what you know about the future. We need to plan against this
information.
Where there are limited resources remaining (time, budget, ..) or
a goal to reach, make this super clear.

13. PREDICT & PLAN
“Consider visually indicating
where the user can make a
difference, what he can influence.”
External factors, such as the weather or actions from a competitor are
something we can not change, although we might be able to anticipate or
respond to it. Internal factors, such as allocation of budget or timing, we can
adjust.
Whilst we need to be aware of and understand the external factors, build a
dashboard geared towards taking action, highlight where we can take
control and make a difference.

14. 3.
DASHBOARDS HELP YOU COMPLETE
CRITICAL TASKS IN TIME TO AVOID LAST-MINUTE
PANIC

15. AVOID PANIC &
CRITICAL TASKS
• Show what you know about the future
• Highlight information that warrants action
• Allow users to mark future stuff as 'ʹmanaged'ʹ, 'ʹcovered'ʹ or 'ʹunder
control'ʹ.
Completion of outstanding things leads to a sense of control as well – we do
not have to worry about them anymore. Give people room to annotate (or
automatically annotate, if you have the info), which of future events still need
action and which are covered.

16. PREDICT & PLAN
“Even when people are
panicking, there is still room
for control.”
Even when people are panicking, good design can help them still. They
need to find information as quickly as possible, and consistency in your data
hierarchy will make that they instantly know where and how to check, and
although possible they won'ʹt feel in control regarding the situation, they
will at least feel in control of handling your dashboard.
For more frequently occurring "ʺpanic"ʺ cases in your industry, you can offer
‘prefab’ solutions or advice.

17. A LITTLE EXTRA

18. UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR USER NEEDS
Design dashboards
to take into account
context and work
routine.

19. CONTEXT
FREQUENCY
OF CHECKS
Most of us humans thrive when there is routine, and checking dashboards
has become part of that routine. You should take into account the frequency
with which we check them. Adjust the main overview according to how
often the dashboards are or ought to be checked.

20. CONTEXT
DEVICE
CONTEXT
In the most common understanding of context, your dashboard should take
into account which device the dashboard is accessed from. Which
information, the interactions with the dashboard (such as drill down) and -­‐‑
especially -­‐‑ the density of the information should be adjusted to the device.

21. CONTEXT
(RE)ACTION
OR ROUTINE?
Context is also ‘what just happened’. Do we check the dashboard in
response to a specific problem we are encountering (eg. machine no longer
responding), or action we have taken (eg. sending out a campaign). Action
& re-­‐‑action checks mean we are actively looking to spot what has changed.

22. .( yeey, you’ve made it to the end :-)
Thanks for being all a0entive and such. Now, please go forth
and make some kick-­‐‑ass dashboards. (Or tweak existing ones a li0le bit.)
Have a look at the full article on www.keek.be, if you like to read some more on dashboards &
control. If you have dashboard-­‐‑design advice of your own to share, or constructive critique
regarding these slides, both are welcome at @vintfalken or iphimeda@gmail.com.