Graph Labels
With the overall simplification of Enterprise apps, executives are seeking simplicity. Simpler always means better for the user.
There are many forms of simplicity. To simplify enterprise product upgrade and installation process, the company might need to refactor the product from the ground up. This is often a long-term investment and complex task. So what else we can focus on? A visual simplicity.
In this post, I want to discuss one specific aspect of visual simplification, that does not enhance a professional product user experience — missing graph labels.
Graph vs Picture
As a former structural design engineer, I created a lot of graphs myself. Structural design is an application of basic laws of physics, and every graph has a real-world interpretation.
The visual elements, that link graphs to the real world are the labels — both dimension lines and graph labels.
Labels are the ultimate difference between the picture and graph in the same way, as dimension lines and scale are making the difference between the picture and a design drawing.
Dashboards
When a dashboard displays multiple graphs from multiple data sources that are screaming for attention, the dashboard can often look visually complex.
The lazy design answer to this complexity is to hide it. It looks simpler, but does it work for the professional user?
Conclusions
As designers, we should never look for shortcuts, such as hiding important elements like labels. Visual complexity is always relative. Some things in life are just complex.
Instead of hiding, we should look for appropriate design techniques, such as applying visual hierarchy using Gestalt psychology rules or improve the informational architecture with progressive disclosure.
Eye-tracking is often seen as a controversial technique, but it can provide an additional source to validate if the chosen data visualization method is appropriate to the task.
Data visualizations that might look complex to a stranger are often perfectly appropriate for trained professional, who might prefer accuracy, recognition over recall and clarity over visual simplicity.
