Optimizing Information Density

A dashboard with forty metrics displays information. A dashboard with four metrics enables decisions. The difference is information density optimization: presenting the minimum information necessary for the decision, and nothing more. Edward Tufte's data-ink ratio applies: every pixel on the dashboard should communicate information. Grid lines that do not aid reading, borders that separate nothing, legends that could be replaced by direct labels — these are visual noise. Remove them. The dashboard should feel sparse, not crowded. The viewer's eye should go to the key metric in under one second. If they need to search, the dashboard has too much on it.