The document provides guidelines for creating effective dashboards. It recommends showing changes over time using line charts, displaying locations on maps, and showing highest/lowest values with bar charts. Major guidelines include placing the most important view in the top left, grouping filters and legends on the right or bottom, limiting color schemes, and keeping dashboards to 2-3 views. It also lists libraries like D3.js and Chart.js that can be used to make dashboards.

1. Dashboard Guidelines
Nam Vo

2. Overview
• Dashboard is a user interface that, somewhat
resembling an automobile's dashboard,
organizes and presents information in a way
that is easy to read.
Source: Metronic

3. What’s the best view?
• When you are showing a change
over time, you should probably use a
time series (a line chart with time on
the columns shelf)
Source: d3.js

4. What’s the best view? (cont’d)
• When you are showing where
something is, use a map. However,
maps are often best used with
another chart detailing what the
map displays, like a bar chart
sorted from greatest to least.
Source: The New York Times

5. What’s the best view? (cont’d)
• When you are showing the highest
or lowest value use a bar chart.
Source: d3.js

6. Major guidelines
• Place the most important view in
the top or top left. Generally, when
looking at a dashboard, your eye is
first drawn to the upper left corner.
• Group filters and legends to the
right or bottom of your viz.
Source: Google Analytics

7. Major guidelines (con’td)
• Speaking of color, avoiding using multiple color schemes per dashboard
unless there are natural and independent color schemes in your data. If
you are using multiple schemes, try using the Purple-Gray, Blue-Red and
Green- Orange schemes.
• Keep your dashboards to 2 or 3 views.

8. Another view
Your solution is not my problem

9. Bar chart
• You can swap the fields on the Rows and Columns
Source: Tableau Visual Cookbook

10. Pie chart
• The human eye is not very good at
estimating area.
• Instead, when trying to make
comparisons, try bars. Our eyes are
much better at comparing height
than area.
Source: Tableau Visual Cookbook

11. Emphasize the most important data
Source: Tableau Visual Cookbook

12. Labeling your viz in all the right places
Source: Tableau Visual Cookbook

13. Libraries
Make it better

14. D3.js

15. Chart.js

16. References
• Tableau, Tableau Visual Cookbook
• https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/dashboard
• https://d3js.org/