Datasheet

Use layout and placement to draw focus
As I discuss earlier in this chapter, only measures that support the dash-
board’s utility and purpose should be included in the dashboard. However, it
should be said that just because all measures on your dashboard are signifi-
cant, they may not always have the same level of importance. In other words,
you’ll frequently want one component of your dashboard to stand out from
the others.
Instead of using bright colors or exaggerated sizing differences, you can lever-
age location and placement to draw focus to the most important components
on your dashboard.
Various studies have shown that readers have a natural tendency to focus
on particular regions of a document. For example, researchers at the Poynter
Institute’s Eyetracker III project have found that readers view various regions
on a screen in a certain order, paying particular attention to specific regions
on the screen. They use the diagram in Figure 1-4 to illustrate what they
call priority zones. Regions with the number 1 in the diagram seem to have
high prominence, attracting the most attention for longer periods of time.
Meanwhile, priority 3 regions seem to have low prominence.
11
11
2 3
22
22
33
2 3
33
Figure 1-4:
Studies
show that
users pay
particular
attention to
the upper-
left and
middle-left
of a
document.
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Chapter 1: Getting in the Dashboard State of Mind
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