6 Tips to Design an Intelligent Marketing Dashboard and Report
Dense walls of text with no visuals and charts are boring to create and read. However, with a few simple tricks, you can turn those boring reports into an engaging document.
Dense walls of text with no visuals and charts are boring to create and read. However, with a few simple tricks, you can turn those boring reports into an engaging document. Here are some of the dashboard design principles you can use.
1. The Report Cover Design
In real life, not judging a book by its cover is a good idea. However, there are people who will still do it. When thinking of the report design, you need to think about the cover. It will help people develop a positive impression even before they read it.
For the cover, ensure you use an engaging photo or illustration. Ensure it is an image, which expresses the brand’s voice clearly. Besides that, ensure it matches the overall tone of the report. Use an image, which either expresses optimism, is sobering, or whatever the report expresses.
2. Consider Using a Template
The report design can be created using a template if you want to get it right. It is especially so if you have little experience creating a successful report. A template allows you to speed things up and avoid any design mistakes. For the best dashboard design, you can buy a template or utilize one of the free options available online.
3. Use Colour to Highlight Key Data
When thinking of the design, the colour is an important factor. It plays an important role in the general look and feel of your report. It can even help to direct which areas the reader looks at. Bold colour access help to draw the attention of the reader to key facts that are important.
Colour is important in highlighting data points and drawing attention for report headers. However, use the highlight colours with restraint. Too many bright and contrasting colours will overwhelm the senses and distract from the message. Just stick to a single colour for highlights and it will even help to tie the whole document together.
4. Use Graphics the Right Way
Graphics can help you to squeeze the most out of the report. Graphics can help to save space where walls of text would have been needed. However, before creating a complex graph, ensure there is a valid reason to use it. It helps the readers to understand complex data fast. It is better than dumping data in sheets and hoping readers will understand. Graphics also help to reveal emerging trends fast.
5. Use Clear Text Hierarchy
Similar to the use of colour to tell readers where to look, text size can be used to tell readers what to read. Hierarchy is about styling and sizing so that readers can be used to navigate the report with a quick glance. A report should have three levels of hierarchy at the very least. It should be used consistently throughout the report. The headers are large and bold and have some type of style. The subheaders are small and have less style. The paragraph text should have minimal style and size.
6. Make Sure there is a Lot of Whitespaces
Whitespace is an important aspect of good report design. Just enough whitespace makes the report pleasing and balanced. Without this space, the design feels unfinished and cramped. When adding the whitespace, keep in mind that readers are turned off by huge walls of text. The whitespace is important in reports with a lot of information. It can look heavy and overwhelming. By leaving a huge margin around text and charts, it can help to make reports look less formidable and save more ink when you print it out.
Summary
If you want to create maximum impact on your readers, ensure that you use the above-mentioned tips. Even if the content in the report is dry, the design does not have to be. With these best practices, you can come up with a document that makes the information that it has easy to look at and read.
