 Defined the goals of information visualization  Identified methods of enhancing understanding and amplifying cognition: ◦ Increase available brain resources (parallel vs. serial processing methods); ◦ Reduce search time and enhance recognition of patterns (using pre-attentive processing); ◦ Provide focus/emphasis.  Reviewed heuristics from Tufte and Nielsen  Discussed issues in creating multivariate visualizations 1

 Understand quantitative relationships ◦ Nominal vs. ordinal vs. interval vs. hierarchical relationships ◦ Ranking vs. ratio vs. correlation ◦ Measures of average and distribution  Concepts of tables and graphs ◦ Tables are used to see individual values; graphs are used to reveal relationships among multiple values ◦ Tables and graphs should be sorted to highlight key message. ◦ Relative use of pie charts, bar charts, line charts, sparkline, small multiples, box plot... ◦ Showing relationships vs. deviation vs. correlation vs. ranking vs. time-series vs. part-to-whole vs. distribution ◦ Importance of sorting tables and graphs. 2

 Visual display  Key Information ◦ Most important information to monitor one or more objectives ◦ Usually related directly to key performance indicators ◦ Consolidated  Fits on one screen (no scrolling!)  Designed to be monitored at a glance 3

 -dashboards.aspx -dashboards.aspx      4

 centre/dashboard-videos centre/dashboard-videos   WjyI&feature=related WjyI&feature=related  ure=related ure=related 5

 Derived from the work on executive information systems (late 1980’s through 1990’s).  Further roots in the work on the “balanced scorecard” concept to broaden perspective from financials alone.  Uses the dashboard metaphor to develop fast recognition and appeal. 6

7 StrategicAnalyticalOperational Audience Executives, managers Managers, analystsExecutives, managers, do-ers Use High-level performance; Relationships Detailed understanding of KPI factors Run daily, weekly, monthly operations Design Simple displays; Provide context; Include forecasts Rich comparisons; more context, multivariate Maintain awareness through dynamic, simple displays Issues and Cautions Beware too much information; Avoid subtle gradations; Link to KPI; Don’t bother with real-time data Provide drill-down; Enable exploration; Show movement; Allow examination of causes; Probably doesn’t require real-time data Specific information available; provide drill-down; Exceptions are critical; requires real-time data; use hovering

8 CategoryMeasures Sales Billings Bookings # of Orders Order Amounts CategoryMeasures Marketing Market share Ad campaign $ Cust. Demographics CategoryMeasures IT Network downtime System usage Fixed app defects CategoryMeasures Tech Support # of support calls Resolved cases Customer satisfaction Call duration CategoryMeasures Finance Revenues Expenses Profits CategoryMeasures Human Resources Employee satisfaction Employee turnover Count of open positions Count of late reviews

 Overall design ◦ Exceeding boundaries of a single screen. ◦ Limiting design to the dashboard metaphor. ◦ Choosing ineffective or inappropriate visualization methods. ◦ Poor flow/arrangement of presentation of data.  Content ◦ Choosing a deficient, inappropriate or ineffective measure. ◦ Supplying inadequate context for the data. ◦ Displaying excessive detail or precision.  Detailed design (look and feel) ◦ Misusing or overusing color; meaningless variety of color and shape. ◦ Poor highlighting of important data. ◦ Cluttering the display with useless decoration. 9

 Delivers information that is: ◦ Exceptionally well-organized. ◦ Condensed. ◦ Provides summaries and exceptions. ◦ Specific to the requirements of the audience. ◦ Presented on the media of choice for the audience (computer, phone, tablet, etc.) ◦ Flexible. ◦ Able to be pursued in more detail beyond the dashboard. 10

 Understand and make best use of screen real estate  Maximize the data-ink /total-ink ratio (or data pixels/total pixels ratio...)  Eliminate all unnecessary non-data pixels  De-emphasize all non-data pixels and make them slip into the background of the overall design  Highlight the most important data pixels 11

12 Emphasized Neither emphasized or de-emphasized De-emphasized Emphasized

13 SalespersonJanFebMar Bill Bassett2,8344,3404,885 Jenny Martin5,8907,4396,493 Luis Marquez3,8996,8898,593 Bob Taylor1,2503,4455,443 SalespersonJanFebMar Bill Bassett2,8344,3404,885 Jenny Martin5,8907,4396,493 Luis Marquez3,8996,8898,593 Bob Taylor1,2503,4455,443

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 Grid lines in graphs that don’t need precision  Backgrounds that don’t provide delineation of sections on the dashboard  3-D that doesn’t provide additional variables or layers of analysis  Drawings that are not part of the data – including detailed logos  Colors that don’t highlight or emphasize data  Meters and gauges that don’t incorporate preattention 15

 Arrange the overall design to reflect how the intended audience “thinks” about the decisions to be made.  Group related data.  Arrange the data in a meaningful order (low to high; high to low)  Use bright colors sparingly and judiciously.  Avoid use of a colored background.  White space is an effective delimiter.  Use fonts with good legibility and readability. 16