5 Tips for Creating Compelling Dashboards – Tip #5 – Test and Refine

Test and Refine your design, that is the last tip in our series. Thanks for reading! You can find all the previous tips here:

1. Know What You Want To Say 
2. Set Clear Goals
3. Tell a Clear Visual Story
4. Keep It Simple!
5. Test and refine your design 

Even expert dashboard designers don’t get everything right on the first try. Put yourself in your users’ shoes, design the first version the best you can and then test it with a sample of your users. Show them real data and observe how they use the dashboard. Is the message clear? Can they make sense of the data? Does something feel too complicated? Is something missing? Incorporate constructive comments and then test again. Having dashboarding tools that allow you to make quick changes is crucial.

Even after you launch your dashboard to a wider audience, make sure it is easy for users to contact you and continue collecting feedback. Be ready for receiving many comments about how the dashboard should look. People often like different colors and want bells and whistles. They might not appreciate the effectiveness of your simple design initially, but trust us, they will appreciate the simplicity after looking at the dashboard every day.

Tips for testing and refining:

• Put your design to the test – show real data to real users and listen to what they say.
• Incorporate feedback and test again.
• Be ready for people asking for graphical design changes, but make sure you don’t violate any of the principles of compelling dashboard design. Again, keep it simple.