Navigating the Future: Dashboard Design Trends for 2024
Data can be like a vast ocean, and like water in an ocean that cannot be used, the surfeit of dense, clunky numbers often defeats its own purpose. Instead of giving insights, the sheer amount of data makes it more opaque, and often this leads to organizations throwing their hands up and becoming unwilling even to try to use their data.
To plumb its depths and find insights that help the business, we need to filter data into a format that is accessible, understandable, and possibly most importantly, able to provide insights. The good news is that creating valuable and customizable insights is one of the primary strengths of modern data dashboard design and development.
However, if the word dashboard conjures up an image of a utilitarian interface, you are probably not alone. Traditionally, dashboards tended to be text-heavy and cluttered, with very little scope for personalization. They were also very dull and bland to look at. It was strictly focused on functionality and left the artful and engaging UI designs for websites and other digital products.
Now as technology leaves the narrow confines of technical users and becomes part of our daily lives, the dashboard design has shifted to enhance user experience, comprehension, and visual clarity and impact.
The integration of new UI/UX trends in dashboard design has turned data into a dynamic, useful, and mission-critical aspect of the business. Let us explore some of the more important trends shaping dashboard design in the coming year.
Dashboard Design Trends in 2024 and Beyond
- Increasing use of data visualization
In the world of data, the old cliché still holds true that a picture is indeed worth a thousand words. According to a study conducted by MIT, 90% of the information transmitted to our brain is visual. So it comes as no surprise that data in dashboard visualization is one of the prominent trends for 2024. In fact, when we drill deeper into this trend, we discover that cutting-edge dashboard design services are going a step further and making visualization interactive.
Static visualization is giving way to dynamic, real-time representations that allow users to engage with the content on a more granular level and personalize it for their needs. Unlike static visuals, interactive dashboard data visualization adapts to user interactions, making it more relevant and actionable.
- Custom approach to card display
Conventionally, dashboard design principles took a more structured approach to card display, but now design trends are shifting towards a more customized and tailored approach, where each card on a dashboard is treated as a unique entity, connected to specific actions or data visualization sources.
This approach ensures that every element on the dashboard has a specific and distinct purpose, and users can find information and interact with it more intuitively. Each card is grouped under a logical hierarchy and is linked to an action, a source, or an external resource, increasing the functionality and discoverability of the dashboard elements.
- Minimalistic and clutter-free
New UI/UX design trends will remain wedded to creating clean, well-organized user interfaces that make strategic use of whitespace for visual clarity and impact. Dashboard fonts are also used smartly to prioritize and provide visual cues as to the information that is most important or assumed to be useful for the user.
Unlike the dashboard design best practices of the last decade, the focus is now firmly on providing less but more pertinent information clearly. For users who need more than just an overview, innovative user interface design elements like cards and interactive features either add another layer of information in the same space or direct them to a separate space with more details.
- Personalized dashboard
The era of one-size-fits-all dashboards is giving way to a more personalized approach. In recognition of the fact that data needs to cater to more people with varied interests, dashboard information architecture incorporates filters and custom features that allow users to tailor the interface to their unique requirements.
For instance, in healthcare dashboard design, a customizable dashboard design can fulfill the needs of a large number of different medical professionals. Every person can find relevant information based on their roles and responsibilities. This trend naturally extends across industries, with more user or role-centric dashboards becoming the norm.
(To understand the critical role of medical dashboard UI do read our blog here.)
- One dashboard app interface
Dashboards of the future will be unified; the dashboard design system of 2024 will realize the vision of seamless integration of all app functionalities into a single dashboard interface.
As dashboards become organization-wide, interface design will incorporate maximum data and varied organizational applications under one umbrella. Personalization and elements such as cards will ensure that users get the information they need without getting bogged down by too much data.
Whether it’s monitoring analytics, managing projects, or tracking healthcare data, the dashboards will become centralized hubs that consolidate all relevant information and actions within a single interface and have the flexibility to be customized by every user. As AI-driven data dashboards become more prevalent this trend will only become more popular and raise expectations across countless industries.
- More micro-interactions
With an eye on enhancing user engagement and feedback, dashboard GUI is working hard to include elements that improve synergy between dynamic data and interactive filters.
Micro-interactions are typically in the form of hover effects, animations, alerts or notifications, progress bars, etc. For example, as users apply filters to refine data, subtle animations, and transitions will be deployed to provide real-time feedback, making the dashboard experience more dynamic and visual and giving users a feeling of interactivity and responsiveness with each new selection or click they make.
- Accessibility and inclusivity
Designers are also prioritizing making the dashboard design more accessible to users with diverse abilities. For example, voice integration, bold colors, and high-contrast design elements for visually impaired users are now and will continue to be ubiquitous in this digital design space.
Device accessibility is also a critical part of the UI/UX design process. Various devices, specifically mobile devices, must be factored in during the design phase to ensure dashboards work well on all devices and don’t rely on desktop environments too heavily.
- Mobile-first design process
Delving deeper into the accessibility trend we mentioned above, the dashboard design is shifting more and more towards a mobile-first approach. To be frank, this is really more about making everything possible “clickable” and refraining from long scrolling or other tedious navigational features.
This is very much in sync with general Internet usage, as recent surveys have established that on any given day or time over 50% of all online traffic comes from mobile devices. The dashboards and their designs must meet the users where they spend their time, and it seems this is more and more on smaller handheld devices. Naturally, there are industries such as healthcare or manufacturing that might buck this trend, but in general, a mobile-responsive or adaptively designed dashboard has become the default expectation among most users.
Mobile-first dashboard design is also impacted by factors such as network speed, smaller screen real estate, and the need to maintain the balance between layout and features. This is where the art and science of UI/UX design are tested and only those who understand the nuanced field of effective and intuitive dashboard design will be successful.
- Iconography and colors
The latest UI/UX dashboard trends are also spotlighting visual elements such as using bolder and more interesting icons and colors. There is a concentrated effort to move away from the school of thought that equates functionality with unimaginative design.
Common icons in the navigation panel to illustrate graphical representations are being used more frequently and give operational dashboards a fresh and interesting look that was missing from earlier dashboard designs. Iconography, especially in healthcare dashboards, has become a part of the visual language of the dashboard, giving healthcare providers a rapid way to comprehend the most critical patient information in seconds.
(Here is an example of how our design team is merging aesthetic elements and AI-powered dashboards to support and enhance functional requirements.)
- Security and privacy
Hardly a day goes by without some headline highlighting a data theft or security failure. As data becomes more valuable, dashboard interfaces that open organizational data to a vast number of employees must also be secured. Dashboard designers must factor in authorization, login, and accessibility features into their design processes to make the process faster and less cumbersome without losing the interest of users or cutting corners on security policies or compliance.
Why dashboard design is so critical
In the age of data-driven decision-making, how users gain access to data is almost – if not more critical than the actual data itself! Finding and identifying the right data pipeline and presenting it in a format that makes sense to busy laypersons is essential to building competitive businesses. We now make our most important decisions in business and in life by looking at historical and predictive data, period.
Innovative user interface design enables users to get not just information but also to form insights that make their work faster and their decision-making more confident. Design is what communicates complex numbers into easy and applicable concepts, making dashboard UI/UX a vital part of the data economy and one of its most important partners. I’m sure database engineers and data scientists will begrudgingly have to agree.
One of the best and most conclusive impacts of sophisticated dashboard design can be seen in our current healthcare system where it is already being used to streamline the care economy for millions. For example, California’s Department of Health Care Services is using well-researched and visually impactful dashboards to identify patterns and trends, make useful comparisons, and communicate easy-to-understand insights to its population of culturally diverse citizens.
What will the future of dashboard design look like?
While the above-mentioned dashboard design trends will continue to shape the dashboards soon, there is one key feature that is likely to create a deeper impact in the field – artificial intelligence.
AI is already being used in small doses in dashboard design and is likely to play a bigger role in automating data collection and analysis, for personalizing individual dashboards, and most importantly providing real-time insights.
AI dashboard design also comes with additional features such as anomaly detection to flag issues with data authenticity, identify trends, and build predictive models that can provide users with relevant information at a glance. Netflix and Salesforce are two excellent examples of Artificial intelligence integrated dashboards.
(To glimpse how you can use AI in your applications can translate into dashboard insights, do take a look at how we integrated video feed to provide real-time visualizations, notifications, and insights to drone pilots in the farming sector.)
Conclusion
Looking ahead, we can say that dashboard design, which is evolving away from traditional formats, will continue to transform to become more user-centric and smart. The integration of interactive data visualization, personalization, and AI will certainly play a big role in shaping the future of user interface design UI/UX. If you are interested in exploring how to make better use of your organization’s data and how to use data to stay ahead in your marketplace, we’d love to talk to you.
Data dashboards are changing the way we make decisions.
There was a time when executives had to rely on flimsy reports spit out by some outdated spreadsheet system. Now data dashboards are giving users an unprecedented ability to make informed decisions to better manage every aspect of their organization.
