Redesigning Dashboards To Drive Action

A dashboard that looks good isn’t necessarily a dashboard that works.

If your dashboard doesn’t help someone make a decision, take action, or ask a better question, it’s just decoration.

When we’re asked to redesign dashboards, we always come back to one core idea: clarity leads to action. Here’s how to approach dashboard redesign with purpose, not just polish.

Start With The Decision

Before touching visuals, define:

• What decision is this dashboard meant to support?

• Who is the primary user?

• What will they do with this information?

Dashboards built for executives should look and function differently from dashboards built for analysts or frontline staff. Too often, dashboards are general-purpose, trying to serve everyone, and helping no one.

Reduce Friction

Users should be able to understand a dashboard in under 10 seconds. That means:

• Clear, meaningful titles (not just “Sales Overview”)

• Grouped visuals that tell a story

• Consistent use of colours and labels

• Minimal filters unless absolutely necessary

Ask yourself: Could someone unfamiliar with this data figure out what’s happening without a walkthrough?

Elevate Signal, Suppress Noise

Every dashboard has a hierarchy. If everything is bold, flashing, or on equal visual weight, nothing stands out.

Use layout and design to:

• Emphasise the most critical KPIs or metrics

• Show change and context (e.g. vs target, vs last year)

• Push secondary information further down or into drill-throughs

In Power BI, features like bookmarks, drill-throughs, and dynamic visuals allow you to layer information without overwhelming the main view. In ThoughtSpot, guided search allows users to dig deeper only when they need to.

Design for Context

• Where and when will this dashboard be used?

• On mobile, in a boardroom, or on a second screen while multitasking?

• Will it be viewed daily, weekly, or ad hoc?

• Will it be emailed, embedded, or accessed via a workspace?

The answers affect everything from layout to interactivity. For example:

• Avoid hover-dependent tooltips if the report will be viewed on mobile.

• Keep key visuals in the top third if it’s often viewed in meetings.

• Design for print if the dashboard is exported and shared as PDF.

Interested in learning more on how Flock Consulting can help you redesign your reporting dashboards?

We’d love to hear from you: