This document discusses techniques for creating minimalist dashboards that provide deep insight. It defines a dashboard and minimalism. There are three common challenges covered: selecting the right data, preserving clarity while including a lot of information, and highlighting the most important data. For the first challenge, the document recommends using a MECE (mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive) approach to data selection. For the second challenge, it discusses maximizing the data-ink ratio to reduce non-data pixels and enhance important data pixels. For the third challenge, it suggests exploiting visual attributes and emphasizing the right visuals to highlight key data.

1. Less is More:
Deep Insight with Minimalist Dashboards
Mrunal Shridhar
@mrunalshridhar
Customer Solutions, EMEA

2. DASHBOARD is a visual display of the
most important information needed to
achieve one or more objectives which
fits entirely on a single computer
screen so it can be monitored in one
glance
- Stephen Few, “Dashboard Confusion”, Intelligent Enterprise, March 20, 2004

3. British dictionary definition
Minimalism
/ˈMɪNɪMƏˌLɪZƏM/
Design or style in which the simplest and
fewest elements are used to create the
maximum effect

4. “Fitting everything in without
sacrificing meaning doesn’t
require muscles, it requires
finesse.”
- Stephen Few, Information Dashboard Design

5. Common Challenges
1. Selecting right data in the first place
2. Preserving clarity while squeezing a great deal of information
3. Highlighting most important data pixels that remain

6. Challenge 1
Selecting right data in the first
place

7. Be MECE
• Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive
(MECE)
– Pronounced “me see”
• Mutually exclusive means “zero overlaps”
– Ensure each element is different than others
• Seeing individual tree as opposed to the forest
• Collectively exhaustive means “zero gaps”
– Ensure all possibilities are covered
• Viewing the forest as opposed to individual trees

8. MECE - Prescription
Dashboard
Product attributes Product Department Product Category
Customer attributes
Customer Segment Customer Name
Region State
Order attributes
Ship Mode
Order Priority
Event attributes Order Date

9. Challenge 2
Preserving clarity while
squeezing a great deal of
information

10. Data-ink ratio
• Introduced by Edward R. Tufte in 1983
• Data-ink ratio
– Data-ink / total ink used to print the graphic
– Proportion of a graphic’s ink devoted to the non-redundant
display of data-information
– 1.0 – proportion of a graphic that can be erased without loss of
data-information
• Non-erasable core of a graphic
• Maximize data-ink ratio within reason

11. Data-ink ratio
Reduce the non-data
pixels
• Eliminate all
unnecessary non-data
pixels
• De-emphasize and
regularize the non-data
pixels that
remain
Enhance the data
pixels
• Eliminate all
unnecessary data
pixels
• Highlight the most
important data pixels
that remain

12. Reduce non-data pixels
• Graphics that are mere decoration
• Color variations that don’t encode meaning
• Unnecessary borders around data
– Keep the weight of lines to a minimum
• Fill colors as backgrounds
– Should always be muted
• Grid lines in graphs and tables
– Only to help viewers specific subsections of graphs
– Only to distinguish some columns from others in tables
• Fill colors in the alternating rows of a table
– Only when necessary to help viewer’s eye scan across all the
rows

13. Enhance data pixels
• Remove less relevant data
• Condense data
– Summary
• Use the correct level of detail
– Exceptions
• Only show what is against the norm
• Use multi-foci displays
• Use combo charts, multiple mark types

14. Challenge 3
Highlighting most important
data pixels that remain

15. Exploit visual attributes

16. Emphasize right visuals

17. QUESTIONS?
PREGUNTAS?
FRAGEN?
DOMANDE?
DES QUESTIONS?

18. Please take the session survey
1.Tap to this session on the Schedule tab of the
Data14 app
2. Scroll down to “Feedback” and tap through the
3-question survey
3.Tap Send Feedback