LR-301i · Module 2

Dashboard Design Principles

3 min read

A risk dashboard that shows everything shows nothing. Design principles for effective risk dashboards: five to seven key indicators, not fifty. Trend lines, not point-in-time values. Color-coded thresholds that produce immediate visual assessment. Action-linked indicators where clicking the red light opens the remediation workflow. The dashboard is an operational tool, not a data visualization exercise.

Do This

  • Limit the primary view to the indicators that drive daily decisions — save detail for drill-down views
  • Use consistent color coding across all dashboards — green/amber/red should mean the same thing everywhere
  • Link every indicator to an action — the person who sees red should know what to do next without leaving the dashboard

Avoid This

  • Display every available metric on the primary view — information overload produces inaction
  • Use color coding inconsistently — if red means "critical" on one panel and "high volume" on another, the dashboard teaches confusion
  • Create dashboards that require interpretation — the on-call person at 3 AM needs obvious signals, not analytical puzzles