Help your audience take action

1. Help your audience take action • Choose data visualizations that help the user take appropriate action • Utilize key performance indicators to draw attention to measures that require action. • Point out the “red flags” • Set up alerts • Provide ability to drill-down • Provide tool-tips. • Provide links to reports to help them explore the data and plan a strategy. • Provide interaction • Allow for sharing and communication

2. Help your audience take action

3. Ensure that you have an effective display • Arrange visualizations on one screen. There should be no scrolling. • Pick 4 to 6 related graphics to show on a screen. • Graphics that are meant to be compared should be on the same screen. Graphics related to different categories should be on different pages. • This helps to support the capabilities of short-term memory, which can only hold a limited amount of information (7 ±2 items.) • Unless rehearsed, items in short-term memory are forgotten within 20 seconds. • To save space, don’t show the same information in two different ways. When in doubt, pick a graphic representation because users prefer them over tables of numbers.

4. Ensure that you have an effective display • Use text wisely. • A visualization should be easy to interpret without an explanation, so there shouldn’t be much text on the screen. • Provide titles and labels that make sense. • Text should be large enough to be legible. You must consider: • Possible visual impairments in your audience • Screen size • Distance of the user from the screen • Text should be dark on a light background. • If not black on white, then there should be a high contrast. • Avoid gradient backgrounds. As the gradient gets darker, it can be harder to read text over the background. • Use sans-serif fonts, like Arial, which reduce visual clutter and are easier to read on a computer screen. • Avoid italics • Use bold sparingly, only to place emphasis.

5. Ensure that you have an effective display • Use color wisely • Color draws attention, so avoid highly saturated or bright colors. • If using color specifically to draw attention, only use that color when it for that purpose. • For example, if using red in gauges to mean Below Target, then don’t use red elsewhere on the screen. • If using color to compare measures, then don’t use colors within a gradient that are too similar. • Consider those who may be color-blind by not using only color to give information and setting noticeable differences in saturation.

6. Ensure that you have an effective display • Use animation and interaction wisely • Motion draws the user’s attention, so it should be used carefully. • Avoid continuous animations (animations that loop, or tickers) • Good uses of animation and interaction • Interactive highlighting • Selecting a row in a table highlighting a corresponding bar on a chart, or vice versa. • Drawing an area around a part of a chart, and rows of a table become highlighted to point out details of those data points • Filtering • Choosing a category from a drop-down list changes the charts on the display to show data for that category • Hovering the mouse over a data point to get a tool tip.

7. Ensure that you have an effective display • Consider how you arrange indicators on the screen • If there is an object in the center, it will be noticed first • If not, then the top-left corner will be noticed • The bottom-right corner is noticed last • So the most important visualizations should be placed at the top from left to right, and the least important should be at the bottom-right corner. • Let the viewer’s eyes flow by lining up indicators in rows or columns. • Information can be grouped into rows, columns, or blocks that can be made with white space, borders, or background color

8. Ensure that you have an effective display • Test your display with your audience • Make sure that it displays the information that they want • Make sure it organizes the information in a way that allows for comparisons and easy navigation • Make sure that the visual aspects are appropriate and attractive • Print your display in black and white to ensure that • There is enough contrast between the text and background • There is enough saturation between colors • Visualizations can be interpreted. They shouldn’t have to be explained. • Important information can be gathered quickly. • Details can be obtained when needed. • Continue asking for feedback and sharing ideas.

9. Test Yourself • What are some improvements that can be made to this dashboard display?

10. Test Yourself

11. Test Yourself - Solutions • Bullet bars are better for making comparisons than speedometers or dials, • but vertical bullet bars should be lined up horizontally and horizontal bullet bars should be lined up vertically so their values are easy to compare. • Avoid bright colors. • Avoid using 3D in charts. • Labels should be close to their graphs. • Group related graphs with white space. • Avoid using too many visualizations.

13. Questions? • Lisa Whitman • Usability Analyst for Business Intelligence Software • Contact • Lisa.Whitman@sas.com • http://support.sas.com/usability