Category: Design

The Power of Visual Communication: Unlocking Meaningful Data Visualisation

Post author By Matthias
Post date 03/08/2023
No Comments on The Power of Visual Communication: Unlocking Meaningful Data Visualisation

Those who master the visual language can create much more efficient data visualisations and information dashboards. Since our visual perception is primarily cultural, even universal to a certain extent, well-expressed dashboards are much easier to understand. Without thinking much, we understand much of the visual grammar and vocabulary here just like that.

Mini-Series: Let’s learn from Communication Theory

Uncover the hidden power of communication theories on information dashboard design and data analytics in this Mini-Series.

In data visualisation and dashboard development, visual communication plays a pivotal role in conveying complex information effectively. Just like a language has its own vocabulary and grammar, visual communication relies on a profound knowledge of visual elements and their arrangement. This post explores why understanding visual vocabulary and grammar is essential for creating meaningful data visualisations that facilitate information exchange and foster understanding.

Design

Colour in Dashboard Design

Post author By Matthias
Post date 05/04/2023
No Comments on Colour in Dashboard Design

Wrongly applied colours in dashboard design lead to wrong conclusions. Why? We are like Pavlov's Dog. The first learned meaning of a colour sticks with us. We would have to try hard to unlearn the first meaning if the orange bar has a new meaning in another chart. So don't use the same colour for different meanings!

When it comes to designing a dashboard, colour is an essential element. It can help to highlight important information, make data more visually appealing and guide users to the information they need.

Design

Lost in Decorations

Heads Up! Natural beauty comes from the insights not from the decorations for information dashboards

We all like to look at supermodels, no matter their gender. It’s very pleasing to look at them as they look perfect. However, things can get a bit out of control after a while. We feel frustrated with ourselves and try to copy those photoshopped ideals. Some of us go wild and take plastic surgeries or cover our faces with makeup or expensive creams to get close to the photoshopped artificial hyperrealism thrown at us from all channels imaginable.

Tags dashboard design, data art, information design

Compositional Weight Design

Why heavily coloured backgrounds waste time

Post author By Matthias
Post date 08/02/2021
2 Comments on Why heavily coloured backgrounds waste time

Coloured backgrounds on information dashboards might look interesting but they waste users and developers time

There is something I observe quite often in information dashboard design. It is the use of dark backgrounds or highly saturated colour backgrounds for menus. The intention is clear. The designer wants to make content or the dashboard as a whole pop out. Therefore she or he puts a lot of compositional weight on the background or the background of the element which should pop out. While it does not look bad, there are three good reasons why you should avoid dark backgrounds in information design.

Tags coloured backgrounds