Getting a good dashboard is really a hard task. It varies from business to business. The important thing is to identify some metrics and KPIs you want to be aware of.
Initially, it would show very few metrics or charts that can give you a quick snapshot of the business so you can see how it's performing very quickly.
But it should be possible to dig into more data and visualize it in many different ways to get better insights.
On most apps I've worked, we've always opted to build out own dashboard because there was no out-of-the-box solution.
We would gather data from inside the app and also use some external services like mixpanel or google analytics.
Also, lately I've been moving towards more custom charts and graphs made with d3.js which is extremely powerful.
You can get some ideas there and by looking similar products.
MixPanel and KissMetrics also provide some inspiration.
And doing a search on dribbble can give you some ideas also: http://dribbble.com/search?q=dashboard
Thanks for your thoughts and links! I especially like geckoboard, and I'm a big fan of Brian Suda. The challenge for me is definitely in the laying out of the unique data for that particular context in a visually appealing way. I guess what I'm trying to do, when you really boil it down, is assemble a toolbox of some tricks to use as starting points from a design perspective, and these are really helping.
Comments
Getting a good dashboard is really a hard task. It varies from business to business. The important thing is to identify some metrics and KPIs you want to be aware of.
Initially, it would show very few metrics or charts that can give you a quick snapshot of the business so you can see how it's performing very quickly. But it should be possible to dig into more data and visualize it in many different ways to get better insights.
On most apps I've worked, we've always opted to build out own dashboard because there was no out-of-the-box solution. We would gather data from inside the app and also use some external services like mixpanel or google analytics. Also, lately I've been moving towards more custom charts and graphs made with d3.js which is extremely powerful.
Nowadays there are a couple of products that let you craft your own dashboard like https://www.leftronic.com/ and http://www.geckoboard.com/
You can get some ideas there and by looking similar products. MixPanel and KissMetrics also provide some inspiration. And doing a search on dribbble can give you some ideas also: http://dribbble.com/search?q=dashboard
A really good book on data visualization is "Designing with Data" by Brian Suda: http://www.designingwithdata.com/
Thanks for your thoughts and links! I especially like geckoboard, and I'm a big fan of Brian Suda. The challenge for me is definitely in the laying out of the unique data for that particular context in a visually appealing way. I guess what I'm trying to do, when you really boil it down, is assemble a toolbox of some tricks to use as starting points from a design perspective, and these are really helping.