Choosing the Right Data Visualizations for Your Dashboard

Learn about 5 common data visualizations for dashboards

A data dashboard gives you at-a-glance access to information about key business activities. However, in order for this information to be absorbed, understood, and acted on as easily as possible, it needs to be presented using the right data visualizations.

Here are some of the post popular data visualizations used in data dashboards:

Bar Charts

Bar charts are a very familiar data visualization, which makes it easy for users to start gaining insights from them immediately. Stacked bar charts are especially useful for showing how multiple data sets relate to one another. For example, you could display monthly revenue at a store using a bar chart, and then transform it into a stacked bar chart to easily display and compare the monthly revenue at multiple store locations.

Line Charts

Line charts are an excellent choice of data visualization when you are focused on trends, patterns, and fluctuations in the data. They also offer a way to compare multiple data sets, since multiple lines can be plotted on the same chart—provided you differentiate the data sets clearly using different colors, dotted or dashed lines, etc.

Sparklines

A sparkline is very similar to a line chart except there are no axes or coordinates and therefore no individual values—the visualization is purely about trends. Sparklines are popular because they are extremely compact, so they can communicate general information without taking up much space on the dashboard. Sparklines are best used to track a metric with a current status value over a specific time period.

Pie Charts

Pie charts are one of the most easily scannable data visualizations to use when you’re concerned about a parts-of-a-whole relationship. For example, you might use it to show which products or locations are responsible for what percentage of your overall sales or revenue. However, if you want to display specific data and not just a relative relationship, you need to add percentage values to the graphic.

Gauges

Gauges are an excellent data visualization to use when you are tracking a single metric with a clear objective. The gauge shows where you are currently compared to the goal. You can add colors to the gauges so that they show up in red when you’re straying far from meeting the metric and green when you’ve met or exceeded it.

Tables

Tables can definitely have a place in a data dashboard, provided that you’re careful not to overload them with too many columns of words and numbers. Sparklines can actually fit within the cells of a table, allowing you to get information from the table at a glance as well as by drilling down into the different cells and columns.

Ready to Design Your Dashboard?

When you have the right data visualizations and a layout that connects these visualizations to tell a story about overall business performance, you end up with a data dashboard that is compact, clear, and rapidly scannable.

If you’re looking for a tool that can take your data and transform it into a stunning data dashboard complete with your choice of data visualizations, look no further than MyFieldAudits. We put the power of analytics in your hands, with no need to buy new hardware or hire your own IT staff. Contact us at info@MyFieldAudits.com to learn more or to request a free demo.