Information Visualization: Getting Dashboards Right
How this course will help your career
What you will learn
- An introduction to dashboard design
- Key considerations when you design for dashboards, such as using the pre-attentive attributes of color, form, orientation, and spatial location
- How principles of visual perception—encompassing how, what, and why we see what we do—can be applied to your dashboard designs
- Key concepts related to dashboard design, such as the “data-ink ratio,” summaries and exceptions, the benefits of customization, and how to promote insight
- Some of the psychological aspects of dashboard use, including attention, short-term memory, and problem solving
- Examples of good and bad design to help you avoid common mistakes
- The importance of viewing experience over aesthetics
Dashboards are everywhere—in enterprise software, Google Analytics and Facebook Ads Manager, and even popular blogs such as WordPress and Medium. With the big data and business analytics industry set to grow from $130bn in 2016 to more than $203bn in 20201, dashboards are going to become increasingly important. But how do you pack increasingly huge amounts of data into increasingly streamlined, tiny dashboards?
“Information Visualization: Getting Dashboards Right” will lead you through some of the key considerations when designing dashboard displays. Some design choices may seem arbitrary, such as the color of the background display or the size of the company logo, but almost every decision can potentially make, or ruin, the viewing experience. Through this course, we help you identify many of the design pitfalls your competitors have already fallen into. We will equip you with a deeper understanding of your users, so you know how to reduce their burden of responsibility as well as promote insight—the main reason for using dashboards as the chosen display method.
By the end of the course, you will have a clear understanding of how to design the right dashboards for your intended users, saving yourself the effort of endless edits. You will also be able to avoid the common faults blighting your competitors' designs by being equipped with the necessary information to design products that provide your users with the best possible viewing experience and, in turn, generate an increase in sales.
Gain an industry-trusted UX Course Certificate
You earn a verifiable and industry-trusted Course Certificate once you complete the course. You can highlight them on your resume, CV, LinkedIn profile or your website.
Our courses and Course Certificates are trusted by these industry leaders, who have taken up company memberships with the IDF:
Who should take this course
This is an intermediate-level course suitable for students and professionals alike:
- UX designers interested in learning the key considerations, design pitfalls, and how to promote insight when designing dashboards
- Project managers looking to create dashboard displays that are relevant and effective to users
- Software engineers interested in the best practices for designing dashboards
- Entrepreneurs who want to create dashboard displays that are relevant and that will increase sales
- Students and newcomers to design who are considering making a switch to UX, UI, or web design
Courses in the Interaction Design Foundation are designed to contain comprehensive, evidence-based content, while ensuring that the learning curve is never too steep. All participants will have the opportunity to share ideas, seek help with tests, and enjoy the social aspects afforded by our open and friendly forum.
Learn and work with a global team of designers
When you take part in this course, you will join a global multidisciplinary team working on the course and the exercises at the same time as you. You will work together to improve your skills and understanding. Your course group will be made up of an incredibly diverse group of professionals, all of whom have the same objective—to become successful designers. It’s your chance to learn, grow, and network with your peers across the planet.
1 Double-Digit Growth Forecast for the Worldwide Big Data and Business Analytics Market Through 2020 Led by Banking and Manufacturing Investments, International Data Corporation
Lessons in this course
- Lessons become available at a schedule of one lesson per week.
- Lessons remain open for you forever and have no deadlines.
- There is no time limit to finish a course.
- You have permanent access to your course material, answers, and classmates for the entire duration of your membership.
- Estimated time to complete: 9 hours 13 mins spread over 8 weeks.
Lesson 0: Introductions and welcome
Available once you start the course. Estimated time to complete: 49 mins.
Lesson 1: Information Visualization: An Introduction to Dashboard Design
Available once you start the course. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 31 mins.
Lesson 2: Dashboard Design: Key Considerations
Available anytime after Feb 26, 2019. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 28 mins.
Lesson 3: Dashboard Design: Visual Perception and the Gestalt Principles
Available anytime after Mar 05, 2019. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 4 mins.
Lesson 4: Dashboard Design Considerations: Practical Application
Available anytime after Mar 12, 2019. Estimated time to complete: 36 mins.
Lesson 5: Common Display Methods
Available anytime after Mar 19, 2019. Estimated time to complete: 55 mins.
Lesson 6: Further Dashboard Display Methods
Available anytime after Mar 26, 2019. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 4 mins.
Lesson 7: Dashboard Design: Think of the Users!
Available anytime after Apr 02, 2019. Estimated time to complete: 59 mins.
Lesson 8: Dashboard Design: Applying and Summarising
Available anytime after Apr 09, 2019. Estimated time to complete: 47 mins.
Lesson 9: Course Certificate, Final Networking, and Course Wrap-up
Available anytime after Apr 16, 2019.
Learning paths
This course is part of 1 learning paths:
How others have benefited
Prashant Katrabad, India
“The course has taken my understanding of dashboard to the next level. I hope to design better dashboards in future.”
Eric Azares, United States
“This gave me a lot of principles I can immediately apply to dashboard design. Now that I know the principles, I have a more critical eye for dashboards I see on a daily basis. I can view all my dashboards not just as a consumer but as a designer. Time to go organize information!”
Sharon Kruskopf Sens, United States
“This course has certainly underscored the challenge of designing an effective dashboard. I find that I analyze every dashboard I now see!”
How to advance your career with IDF courses
-
Attend lessons at your own pace
Each week throughout the course, you get access to a new lesson, but you can move through the lessons at your own pace. This means you can learn before you leave for work, or in between breaks — in as little as 15 minutes per day.
-
Network online and offline
Network with your fellow course-takers online, through discussion forums inside lessons. You can also connect with your peers offline via IDF’s Local Groups. Local Groups connect you with other designers around your city who share the same passion in UX design as you.
-
Advance your career
Get a verifiable and industry-trusted Course Certificate once you’ve scored at least 70% on a course. Highlight your Course Certificates on your résumé, your LinkedIn profile, or your website to showcase your newly mastered skills.
Start advancing your career now
Become a member to take “Information Visualization: Getting Dashboards Right”. Take any other IDF UX courses at no additional cost. Take a concrete step forward in your career path today.