Coherent Thinking .org

"Information Dashboard Design" is an excellent resource for any type of communication- dashboards, webpages, proposals, powerpoint. The book draws heavily on behavioral and perceptual science and frequently quotes the work of Edward Tufte. Unlike Tufte, this book gives clear examples and prescriptive advice on how best to layout any kind of presentation to quickly and effectively communicate.

There are many guiding principles which are clearly illustrated with examples of both good and bad designs.

Key principles include:
Top-left position is the first place western eyes look- this position should be reserved for most important data. Poor presentation puts a big distracting logo or picture in the top left- this may work if the first thing you want to communicate is corporate identity.

Borders, pictures, and excessive use of color and bold draw the eye and usually distract from the message. White space is an excellent separator. Table borders and legends on graphs are often more visually ‘heavy’ than the data they present.

Gimmicks like gauges are usually more distracting than informative. The more shiny, 3d and detailed they are the more they obscure your message.

Although directed at dashboard design I find this book helpful for proposals, PowerPoint, and Excel layout. The concept of putting data out front where it will be the first thing your reader sees is universal and grows increasingly important as we become more overloaded with sensory input.