Information radiators are visual artifacts displayed prominently in a team’s workspace to convey key information to all team members. Also known as “big visible charts,” they ensure everyone on the team has access to updated information at all times, thus facilitating transparency and preventing miscommunication.
The term “information radiator” can be applied to a range of artifacts. Anything that is important for the team to know can be considered an information radiator.
UX teams often use radiators such as personas, key user stories, “voice of the user” quotes and user journeys to constantly remind the team about the purpose of the project and to keep users front and center.
Teams may also put up posters and crucial guidelines as constant reminders; for example, a list of dos and don’ts for creating accessible designs, moodboards and design principles.
The Kanban board is widely used in the software industry by agile teams. It shows project status in real-time and helps teams know who is working on what at any given point in time.
A team may choose to display metrics such as application usage, revenues and error reports, to help teams stay clued in to product performance.
The most effective information radiators are highly visible, interactive ones, that spark conversation and on which team members can add annotations and constantly update. Many collaborative UX sessions, such as journey mapping, result in radiators that teams can continue to reference throughout the project.
In remote teams, where team members do not have a shared physical space, digital dashboards and tools can serve similar functions. For example:
Team members can view usage analytics or statistics about customer complaint tickets on a team dashboard. With digital tools, teams can also take advantage of automation to set up notifications in the team’s digital workspace. These could include daily/weekly snapshots or exception reports—when a key metric deviates significantly from the normal range.
Using collaborative, virtual whiteboards, teams can create shared spaces that contain all key information related to a project, including moodboards, personas, journey maps, etc.
Being a fully remote team, the IxDF relies heavily on digital whiteboards. For example, course instructors of the Agile Methods for UX design conducted a value proposition mapping activity and continued to refer to it during course development.
Just because anything can be an information radiator, doesn’t mean everything should. Select only the most relevant information that is important for everyone on the team to know about. For example, it’s important to include user personas, essential in design as fictitious representations of real users to help team members direct their focus well. A saturated space with too many radiators can overwhelm the team, or worse, team members may ignore the information, thus defeating its purpose.
For more agile-related industry insights, methods, tips and best practices, take the course, Agile Methods in UX Design.
The Agile Alliance explains the origins and benefits of information radiators here.
Ron Jeffries, one of the founders of Extreme Programming (XP) writes about Big Visible Charts and offers examples of what type of charts are useful for a team.
Here are some tips on creating effective information radiators.
Information radiators are visual displays, like dashboards, kanban boards, or status monitors, that share real-time project, design, or user data with teams to promote transparency and collaboration.
Coined by Alistair Cockburn in Agile methodology, information radiators “radiate” important data openly so team members can see progress, blockers, metrics, or updates at a glance. In UX (user experience) design, this includes usability test findings, heatmaps, or KPIs (key performance indicators) displayed in the design studio. Product teams use them to track sprint goals, user feedback, or A/B test results. These tools align stakeholders, reduce silos, and keep user needs front and center for everyone involved in a product to refer to.
Watch this video for a brief introduction to information radiators, with Laura Klein: Product Management Expert, Principal at Users Know, Author of Build Better Products and UX for Lean Startups.
The term “information radiator” originated in Agile development (Alistair Cockburn coined it to describe visual displays that broadcast critical project information in shared workspaces), making status and progress instantly accessible.
In early Agile environments, teams used whiteboards, sticky notes, or printed graphs to make work visible. Cockburn observed that these visual tools acted like radiators, constantly emitting information without user interaction. They supported Agile principles like transparency, fast feedback, and collaboration. Over time, digital versions like dashboards and kanban boards carried this concept into UX and product design, the idea being to ensure everyone sees real-time updates and blockers.
Cockburn emphasized that information radiators work best when they're large, easy to interpret, and placed in high-traffic areas. Their effectiveness drops when hidden in tools or emails.
Enjoy our Master Class Design For Agile: Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them with Laura Klein.
Start by identifying the key metrics your UX team needs to see daily. Choose data that directly impacts your work, such as user research completion rates, design review schedules, usability testing results, or sprint progress. Place your radiator in a high-traffic area where team members naturally gather.
Use large, clear visuals that people can read from several feet away. Color-code different types of information and update the display regularly to maintain relevance. Include both current status and trends over time so your team can spot patterns.
Make the radiator interactive when possible. Allow team members to update certain sections themselves, which increases engagement and ownership. Focus on actionable insights instead of vanity metrics. If the information doesn't help your team make better decisions or adjust their work, remove it. Test different formats and gather feedback to refine what works best for your specific team culture.
Discover more about design sprints and how they help teams reach goals effectively and efficiently.
Design teams use information radiators like usability dashboards, sprint progress boards, feedback walls, and live design system health monitors to share insights and stay aligned.
Usability dashboards visualize testing results—task success, pain points, or user quotes. Kanban boards (physical or digital) show design tasks by status: To Do, Doing, Done. Feedback walls collect internal or external critiques for discussion. Live Figma embeds or style guide monitors show if UI components comply with the system. These radiators make progress visible, foster collaboration, and speed up decision-making by putting information in everyone's line of sight and keeping things top of mind.
Actionable Insights
Post test findings after each usability session to keep feedback fresh.
Use tools like Trello, Notion, or Jira as shared design task boards.
Embed design systems into dashboards to track consistency in real time.
Watch as Laura Klein discusses Kanban in this video:
Yes, you can and should display stakeholder feedback or design decisions as an information radiator; it fosters transparency, alignment, and accountability across teams.
Design walls, feedback dashboards, and decision logs make stakeholder input and design rationale visible to everyone. When placed centrally (physically or digitally), they prevent repeated discussions, reduce confusion, and document how and why design directions evolved. Use tools like Notion, Confluence, or Trello to display quotes, approvals, unresolved issues, or major decisions. Tag each entry with status (like “approved,” “pending,” “disputed”) so everyone can get a quick understanding.
Actionable Insights
Create a “Design Decision Log” board accessible to all stakeholders.
Highlight trade-offs or conflicting feedback to foster constructive discussion.
Update it in real-time to reflect the most current direction.
Watch as Morgane Peng: Designer, speaker, mentor, and writer who serves as Director and Head of Design at Societe Generale CIB, briefly discusses challenges designers can face from people who don't understand their role:
Use an information radiator in a design sprint to visualize team progress, centralize user insights, and align everyone on goals, tasks, and feedback—day by day.
In a design sprint, information radiators like sprint boards, sketch galleries, or insight walls serve as shared visual anchors. Map out the sprint agenda and update it daily. Display user personas (vital tools and deliverables in design as fictitious representations of real users), key challenges, test findings, or stakeholder feedback to keep the sprint focused. Use sticky notes, kanban boards (e.g., Trello or Miro), or live dashboards to track ideation, prototyping, and testing phases. Radiators reduce the chances of misalignment and boost participation by showing what's been done and what's up next.
Actionable Insights
Begin with a sprint goal board that evolves daily.
Post sketches, decisions, and assumptions in real time.
Dedicate a wall or virtual board to user feedback as it arrives.
Want to know more about personas and how to use them effectively? Personas and User Research: Design Products and Services People Need and Want will show you how to gather meaningful user insights, avoid bias, and build research-backed personas that help you design intuitive, relevant products. You'll walk away with practical skills and a certificate that demonstrates your expertise in user research and persona creation.
Common mistakes when designing information radiators for UX (user experience) include cluttered layouts, outdated data, poor visibility, irrelevant content, and lack of ownership. These issues reduce clarity and hurt trust in the tool.
Radiators work best when they communicate essential info quickly. Cluttered or overly detailed displays overwhelm viewers. If data isn't updated regularly, teams ignore it—it's something that's fallen by the wayside. If an info radiator is in low-traffic areas, such as buried under obscure digital tabs, it kills its value. Including vanity metrics or too much data makes interpretation harder. Without someone responsible for upkeep, it quickly becomes obsolete; nobody's job becomes everybody's blind spot and anybody's guess as to if they're even using a radiator anymore.
Actionable Insights
Keep it visual and minimal—think charts, color codes, and simple text.
Assign a team member to update and curate the radiator.
Regularly review what data is useful and retire what's not.
Discover important points about visual hierarchy to help display information most effectively.
A UX-focused information radiator should include usability metrics, user feedback, design decisions, sprint status, and current pain points—visually organized for quick team reference. User personas (vital tools and deliverables in design as fictitious representations of real users) are also helpful for UX teams to keep focused.
Insert core KPIs (key performance indicators) like task success rate, NPS (net promoter score), error frequency, or drop-off points. Post qualitative insights such as quotes from usability tests, common user complaints, or behavioral patterns. Add current design challenges, pending decisions, or open questions. Use visual tools, such as heatmaps, charts, sticky notes, or tagged quotes, to increase clarity. Keep content relevant to the sprint or product phase and update it regularly to reflect live feedback.
Additional Tips
Include a “Voice of the User” section with rotating insights.
Highlight top usability issues alongside progress toward resolving them.
Designate a team member to refresh the board weekly.
Explore our article User Experience (UX) Surveys: The Ultimate Guide for helpful points about net promoter scores and more.
To keep remote teams engaged with a digital information radiator, make it visually digestible, easy to access, and woven into daily workflows using collaborative tools like Notion, Miro, Trello, or Figma.
Remote teams benefit most from radiators that update live and integrate with their daily tools. Pin the radiator in shared channels, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, and use clear visuals, such as charts, progress bars, or tagged sticky notes, to highlight updates. Include sections for feedback, blockers, and team wins to keep morale up. Encourage asynchronous participation with comment features or reactions. Rotate ownership weekly to keep it fresh and collaborative.
Additional Tips
Use automated integrations (e.g., Jira → Notion) to keep data fresh.
Schedule quick reviews during stand-ups to reinforce its importance.
Include “shout-outs” or feedback summaries to humanize the board.
Watch as Laura Klein explains helpful points about cross-functional collaboration:
Agile Alliance. (n.d.). Information radiators. Agile Alliance Glossary. Retrieved June 18, 2025, from https://agilealliance.org/glossary/information-radiators/
The Agile Alliance defines information radiators as visible displays—handwritten, printed, drawn, or electronic—placed in prominent locations so team members and stakeholders can glance at project status instantly, such as automated test counts, velocity, incident reports, or CI/CD health. Their key value lies in fostering transparency, enabling rapid course correction, and enhancing team-wide situational awareness without requiring explicit communication. Used in Agile environments through dashboards, task boards, and charts, information radiators simplify complex data into accessible formats, thereby streamlining collaboration, accountability, and decision-making in UX and interaction design contexts.
Koch, M., Ott, F., & Richter, A. (2024). The future of interactive information radiators for knowledge workers: How will knowledge workers consume ambient awareness information in the future? i-com, 23(2), 139-153.
This forward-looking research examines the evolution of interactive information radiators (IIRs) in the context of emerging technologies and changing work practices. The authors explore how developments in augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and hybrid work environments will impact the design and use of information radiators for knowledge workers. The study presents a comprehensive scenario-based analysis of future information radiator systems, discussing implications for workplace design, collaboration patterns, and information consumption behaviors. The research contributes to understanding how traditional information radiators must adapt to support distributed teams, integrate with emerging technologies, and maintain their core functions of providing awareness, serendipity, and social connection in future work environments.
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Here's the entire UX literature on Information Radiators by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:
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