Data Authors: Skilled Designers of Data Presentations - Data Fluency: Empowering Your Organization with Effective Data Communication - page 97

Why Structure Matters?
Stephen Few, author of Information Dashboard Design , calls structure one of
the greatest challenges of dashboard design:
Dashboard content must be organized in a way that reflects the nature of the
information and that supports efficient and meaningful monitoring. Information
cannot be placed just anywhere on the dashboard, nor can sections of the dis-
play be sized simply to fit the available space. Items that relate to one another
should usually be positioned close to one another. Important items should
often appear larger, thus more visually prominent, than less important items.
Items that ought to be scanned in a particular order ought to be arranged in
a manner that supports that sequence of visual attention. 8
Whether it is a dashboard or a data-rich presentation, the structure of your
data product is an opportunity to define the logical way to look at a problem
or the business. How you choose to lay out the information shapes how your
audience understands the big picture and how the smaller pieces fit together.
At a more practical level, structure can serve as a navigational mechanism for
the user. It shows where to start and where to go next.
Structure Options
A good data product layout requires a deep understanding of how the system
you are measuring works. There are many ways to break something down into
manageable parts. For example, the performance of an American football
game can be deconstructed in many ways: 1) by offense, defense, and special
teams; 2) by down and distance; 3) by time period; 4) by drive; and 5) by run-
ning versus passing plays. Data presented around each of these organizing
principles would tell a different story.
Choosing the right way to structure your data for presentation is entirely
specific to the situation. However, in our experience, there are three common
categories for structuring your information on the page: flow, relationships,
and grouping.
Flow
A flow-based structure emphasizes a sequence of events or actions across time
(Figure 5-8). Systems that fit this model include leads moving through a sales
pipeline, stages of customer support, and operational processes. Notice how
the dashboard in Figure 5-9 is built around the flow of information from the
summary metrics to submetrics to dimensional breakouts. The commitment to