Create beautiful Excel dashboards: 5 essential tips for success

Introduction

Creating beautiful and informative Excel dashboards can drastically help improve your data analysis, reporting and insights. Excel is a popular program for such tasks and with the help of a few tips, you can create amazing dashboards for your business. In this blog post, we cover 5 essential tips that will guarantee success when creating beautiful Excel dashboards.

These tips cover topics such as understanding your data, organizing the dashboard’s layout, data visualization, weighting and much more. Read on to find out more!

Research Your Audience

Beautiful excel dashboards have the power to engage and inform users. To make an effective dashboard, the first step is to understand who the audience is and what their needs are. Here are some tips to help:

Gather Information

Gather quantitative and qualitative data on your audience. Ask key questions such as which industry they work in, how they use Microsoft Excel, the challenges they face when creating dashboards, etc. This will help you create a dashboard that meets the needs of your users.

Understand Your Users

To create an effective dashboard, you need to understand the mindset of your users. What information do they need? How do they prefer to view the data? Get feedback from your users by presenting initial drafts and soliciting their opinions. This will help you refine the final version of your dashboard.

Decide on Objectives

Once you have gathered and analyzed the data on your audience, you can then decide on the objectives of the dashboard. The objectives should be specific, achievable and measurable. This will ensure that the dashboard meets the needs and expectations of your audience.

Choose a Theme

When creating an Excel dashboard, the most important design consideration to make is the choice of theme. The chosen theme should reflect the data you want to capture and represent, while similarly complementing the overall feel of the Excel dashboard. Consider which data the dashboard will be capturing and displaying, and then use this information to pick a theme that works for you.

Analyse the Data

Before proceeding with picking a theme, it is important to take the time to analyse the data you are dealing with. Take note of the number of columns and rows and determine which type of data entry you will be providing. Further, sketch out a rough design of what you think the dashboard should look like so that you can be sure your theme will fit the space.

Develop a Consistent Style

Once the data has been analysed, it is important to develop a consistent style throughout the dashboard. Think about the colour scheme, logos, fonts, and text that will be used and how they will appear in the dashboard. Use a similar style throughout the dashboard, and keep it consistent to ensure a professional and cohesive overall look.

Decide on Colour Scheme

The chosen colour scheme will add visual impact and help to visually distinguish different types of data that are represented. For instance, you may want to use red for sales data, orange for customer data, and blue for customer service data. Additionally, the choice of colour scheme should complement the overall feel of the dashboard, and use shades and tones to ensure the scheme stands out. Try to limit the number of colours you use to avoid overwhelming the dashboard and maintain a visual balance.

Gather Visual Data

Creating beautiful and effective Excel dashboards begins with gathering data that can be presented visually. Data can be presented in a variety of forms such as graphs and tables, and it is important to consider the format that works best to get the message across.

Graphs and Tables

Graphs and tables are two of the most common and effective ways of presenting data. Graphs can be used to represent data that is continuous or discrete, and tables can be used to present tabular data in an easy to read format.

When using graphs, it is important to choose the proper chart type for each set of data. For example, a bar graph would be a good choice for displaying categorical data, while a line graph might work better for something like stock prices.

Tables should be easy to read, with the important columns and rows clearly labeled. Colors and shading can also help to make tables more readable.

Formatting

Layout is also important when creating Excel dashboards. Text should be broken up into short sentences and paragraphs, and there should be enough space between each element on the page. Additionally, make sure to use larger fonts for titles and headers in order to make them more visible.

Use Images When Needed

Sometimes images can be used in addition to graphs and tables to make an Excel dashboard more visually appealing. For example, a map of the world or a simple logo can be used to bring focus to certain elements of the dashboard. However, it is important to remember to keep the images relevant to the data and not overuse them.

Add Interactivity

Incorporating interactivity can take your Excel dashboard design to the next level. Having the ability to move between relevant data more efficiently helps create more meaningful and useful visualizations. This interactive design can help users identify patterns and draw insights faster. Some methods to add interactivity to a dashboard include live updates, data slicers, and conditional formatting.

Live Updates

With live updates, your dashboard will automatically update based on your data source. This is a great way to incorporate dynamic features into an Excel dashboard. You can adjust settings to reflect the type of live update needed, the data source, and so on. With this type of design, the information will be more up-to-date and in line with the current business situation.

Data Slicers

Data slicers enable the user to quickly filter and analyze data, enabling users to narrow down their searches by selecting specific criteria. With this type of feature available, viewers can quickly and efficiently navigate through your Excel dashboard, making it simpler to draw insights and comparisons.

Conditional Formatting

Conditional formatting gives a visual cue to your data and can draw attention to specific features. By using this technique, you can highlight important values, data points, or certain criteria to make them stand out. This is a great way to ensure that your viewers can quickly identify the important parts of your Excel dashboard, and can make data more impactful.

Ensure Easy Usability

Dashboards should be intuitive and easy to use. The best way to achieve these goals is to optimize the visuals and system performance.

Large visuals

Choose the right visuals to display the data. Large visuals will help people see the data easier and will have a greater impact on the user. For example, a large pie chart visually conveys data in a much more effective way than a table.

Fast loading time

A longer loading time can make your dashboards irritating to use. Investing in a good hosting solution can improve loading time significantly. Additionally, optimize images, use caching, and code optimization to ensure that your dashboards load quickly.

Check for errors

Testing can help you uncover potential errors or bugs. Test the dashboard before deploying it to ensure everything is working correctly. Run tests with different devices, browsers, data sets, and user settings. This will help you quickly identify any issues.

Conclusion

Creating beautiful Excel dashboards can be challenging, but following these five tips will guide you to success:

• Clearly define the purpose of the dashboard.
• Identify the most important metrics to show.
• Choose the right type of visualization.
• Limit the number of charts and tables.
• Test the dashboard with users.

By following these ideas and advice, you can create stunning visuals for your Excel dashboards. Try to think outside the box to create unique, memorable visualizations that your clients and stakeholders will appreciate.