7.12. Report Examples: Good, Bad, and Great

In this lesson, we'll examine examples of good, bad, and ugly dashboards to help you understand what works and what doesn't in data visualization. Let's dive in:

1. Bad Example: YouTube Template This dashboard is cluttered, with too much information crammed onto a single page. The numbers are truncated, and there's no context provided for the charts. The use of colors may be on-brand, but it doesn't serve the viewer. This example focuses too much on aesthetics, sacrificing usability.
2. Bad Example: Google Ads Template Again, this dashboard tries to fit everything onto one page. While it does highlight different sections for click-throughs, conversion rates, and cost-per-click, each section could be on its own page with more room and better visualization. A first page with KPIs visualization and links to different pages would improve this example.
3. Bad Example: Google Merchandise Store Template This dashboard doesn't make good use of pages and doesn't present meaningful information. The layout is confusing, with pie charts for cities that don't effectively display the data.
4. Good Example: Election Results Template This single-page dashboard is divided into sections with clear headers and room around each. The charts are clean, and colors are used consistently and effectively. While there's still room for improvement, this is a solid example of a well-designed dashboard.
5. Great Example: Core Web Vitals Template This multi-page dashboard organizes topics across different pages. Each page is divided into sections with titles and subtitles that explain the section's purpose, and links are provided for users to access more information. Colors are used consistently and purposefully, and white space is utilized well. This is one of the best examples of report layout and presentation.

Remember to prioritize clarity, organization, and usability when designing your dashboards.

Avoid clutter, make good use of pages and sections, and ensure that colors are used purposefully. By following these guidelines, you'll create effective and visually appealing data visualizations.

To create the eye icon used to hide and show content in this chapter we can use a community visualization called templr.pro which visualization allows you to use HTML and CSS to create custom elements in your dashboard. To access it, add the manifest URL gs://templr under "Build your own visualization" menu.

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