Knaflic

Question 1

Why does Knaflic argue that context is important and how did we use this advice?

Answer 1

Knaflic states that one should keep three questions in mind throughout the entire design process: “Who is your audience?” and “What do you need them to know?”, “How are you let them know?”

In our paper, we clearly defined the audience from the beginning, managers of different points of interests, and we designed our dashboards to suit them. In the choice of graphs and content of the dashboards, we started from a general view and we ended on a specific view, so a manager can see both the big picture and the very specific data that they are interested in.

Question 2

What is the main point that Knaflic underlines in his book?

Answer 2

That data visualization should tell a story, and one should be able to effectively communicate the data through their designs, and he underlines the main powerful aspects that would help one bring meaningful and and actionable insights to businesses through data.

Question 3

What are the effective visuals that Knaflic advices to use and what are the graphs that should be avoided?

Answer 3

He covers a number of charts that fit specific purposes, and then he argues for a number of visuals that should be avoided. The main charts that he advises to use are simple text, only displaying an important metric, tables, line charts, heatmap, bar charts, and others, most of which we use in our dashboards. Also, among the graphs that should be avoided, he includes pie charts, donut charts, and graphs with secondary Y-axis.

Question 4

What does Knaflic say about elimination of clutter? What are some solutions? (Knaflic, not Gestalt)

Answer 4

On the elimination of clutter, he states that “every single element you add to that page or screen takes up cognitive load on the part of your audience—in other words, takes them brain power to process”. In the case that the informative value added by a design element is not high enough to justify its addition, the consideration must be made to either change the format, such that the informative value is higher, or simply remove the design element.

Question 5

What are the Gestalt Six principles used for?

Answer 5

Elimination of clutter. They help you understand how people see and allow you to identify and remove unnecessary visual elements.

1. Proximity: we think that objects that are physically closer together belong to the same group.
2. Similarity: object that are of the similar color, shape, size, or orientation are perceived as related to a group.
3. Enclosure: we think that objects that are physically enclosed together are belonging to a group.
4. Closure: people like things to be simple and to fit in the constructs that are already in our heads
5. Continuity: when looking at objects, our eyes seek the smoothest path and naturally create continuity in what we see
6. Connection: we tend to think of objects that are physically connected as part of a group.

Question 6

What are the ways that Knaflic proposes to make your audience focus their attention where you want it?

Answer 6

Size: relative size denotes relative importance
Color: when sparring is used, it is one of the most important tools you have to draw attention
Position: without other visual cues, most of the audience scans their eyes in Z pattern.

Question 7

What are the main three visual cues that you can give to your audience to encourage them to properly read your dashboard?

Answer 7

Highlight the important stuff
Eliminate distractions
Create a visual hierarchy

Question 8

There are 6 lessons that Knaflic encourage us to take from his book. What are those?

Answer 8

1. Understand the context
2. Choose an appropriate display
3. Eliminate the clutter
4. Draw attention where you want it
5. Think like a designer
6. Tell a story