Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data - Clarifying the Vision

Dashboard offers a unique and powerful solution to an organization's need for information, but they usually fall far short of their potential. Dashboards must be seen in historical context to understand and appreciate how and why they've come about, why they've become so popular, and why - despite many problems that undermine their value today - they offer benefits worth pursuing. To date, little serious attention has been given to their visual design. This paper strives to fill this gap. However, confusion abounds, demanding a clear definition of dashboards before one can explore the visual design principles and practices that must be applied if they are to live up to their unique promise.