Dashboards have become popular in recent years as uniquely powerful tools for communicating important information at a glance. Although dashboards are potentially powerful, this potential is rarely realized. The greatest display technology in the world won't solve this if you fail to use effective visual design. And if a dashboard fails to tell you precisely what you need to know in an instant, you'll never use it, even if it's filled with cute gauges, meters, and traffic lights. Don't let your investment in dashboard technology go to waste.

This book will teach you the visual design skills you need to create dashboards that communicate clearly, rapidly, and compellingly. Information Dashboard Design will explain how to:

• Avoid the thirteen mistakes common to dashboard design

• Provide viewers with the information they need quickly and clearly

• Apply what we now know about visual perception to the visual presentation of information

• Minimize distractions, cliches, and unnecessary embellishments that create confusion

• Organize business information to support meaning and usability

• Create an aesthetically pleasing viewing experience

• Maintain consistency of design to provide accurate interpretation

• Optimize the power of dashboard technology by pairing it with visual effectiveness

Stephen Few has over 20 years of experience as an IT innovator, consultant, and educator. As Principal of the consultancy Perceptual Edge, Stephen focuses on data visualization for analyzing and communicating quantitative business information. He provides consulting and training services, speaks frequently at conferences, and teaches in the MBA program at the University of California in Berkeley. He is also the author of Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten. Visit his website at www.perceptualedge.com.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 58 Ratings

Wonderful Book Indeed ! - 2010-01-08
Reviewer Rating:
Its a great book for everyone involved in a Dashboard Design - from a Manager through the Developer - It just clears up some very basic concepts which the software vendors don't care to do..I felt much confident after reading it, and now am ready to question any dumb design that I see coming my way..must read

THE manual for dashboard design - 2009-12-28
Reviewer Rating:
I recently worked on a data visualization project, designing a set of performance reports for an educational organization. This book was absolutely THE manual that my team used for reference. While Tufte's Visual Display of Quantitative Information is somewhat conceptual, this book is entirely practical and specific to the task of creating a dashboard that visualizes the performance of an organization. If you are working on a similar project, you need this book.

I rarely write reviews.... - 2009-11-27
Reviewer Rating:

I while back I was tasked with creating some dashboards at work, for management.
After browsing a great many websites, and reading seemingly endless blogs, I opted to find a comprehensive guide.
Stephen's book answer all my questions and a opened my mind to ideas and concepts not mentioned in any of the online material.
Not only is this book a valuable resource I'm sure I will refer back to, it was also well written and enjoyable.
Few's views came across as a little extreme at times, but frankly he makes a compelling case. I'm sold.

Will read again.

Information Dashboard Design - 2010-01-07
Reviewer Rating:
The book was concise and well laid out. Examples were applicable across a braod range of applications. Found it overall very usefull as either a novice or expert.

Lack of depth and necessary detail - 2009-12-03
Reviewer Rating:
This book seems fit for people concerned about layout more than how you actually build a dashboard. The fact that most dashboard projects are 80% data warehouse/OLAP work and 20% design work has been ignored by the author. There is also a sense of arrogance in the writing, where the author gives most attention to his own unique dashboard layout ideas which are partially irrelevant to the commercially available dashboard tools that most organizations are buying today. In summary, this book may be helpful if you need help deciding what colors to put on your charts, but it is completely missing most of the activities that are key to the success of a dashboard project.

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