--- title: "Rethinking Data Visualisation: A UX Approach To Dashboards That Actually Drives Decisions — Smashing Magazine" url: https://daily.dev/posts/rethinking-data-visualisation-a-ux-approach-to-dashboards-that-actually-drives-decisions-smashing-fv68nixpc source_url: https://smashingmagazine.com/2026/08/rethinking-data-visualisation-ux-approach-dashboards type: article source: "Smashing Magazine" published: 2026-08-26T13:49:46.470Z updated: 2026-08-26T14:09:57.551Z tags: ["ux", "data-visualization", "product-management"] reading_time: 16 upvotes: 1 comments: 0 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Rethinking Data Visualisation: A UX Approach To Dashboards That Actually Drives Decisions — Smashing Magazine **[Smashing Magazine](https://daily.dev/sources/smashing)** · 16 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A framework for designing dashboards that actually drive decisions, arguing that 80% of successful data visualization work happens before any chart is drawn. Three upstream questions are proposed: context (what question is this answering), audience (who is reading it and how literate/accountable are they), and insight (what should change once the data lands). A case study walks through building a B2B SaaS talent-management dashboard, covering the choice of competency metrics over vanity metrics like time-spent, radar charts for multi-dimensional skill data, consistent color systems, and separate mental models for individual contributors versus managers. Reports improved engagement and reduced churn after redesign, while acknowledging isolating causal impact is hard. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [From Data To Decisions: UX Strategies For Real-Time Dashboards — Smashing Magazine](https://daily.dev/posts/from-data-to-decisions-ux-strategies-for-real-time-dashboards-smashing-magazine-uytyyy9re) · Smashing Magazine · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [I Used to Design Dashboards Based on Assumptions — Now I Want to Understand the Numbers Behind Them.](https://daily.dev/posts/i-used-to-design-dashboards-based-on-assumptions-now-i-want-to-understand-the-numbers-behind-them--giohdnpck) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [From Dashboards to Diagnosis](https://daily.dev/posts/from-dashboards-to-diagnosis-utwml6sru) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Your Dashboard Is Lying to You](https://daily.dev/posts/your-dashboard-is-lying-to-you-jnvkk5rhy) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [What Building My First Dashboard Taught Me About Data Storytelling](https://daily.dev/posts/what-building-my-first-dashboard-taught-me-about-data-storytelling-ronznrxyf) · Towards Data Science · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ux](https://daily.dev/tags/ux), [#data-visualization](https://daily.dev/tags/data-visualization), [#product-management](https://daily.dev/tags/product-management) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/rethinking-data-visualisation-a-ux-approach-to-dashboards-that-actually-drives-decisions-smashing-fv68nixpc)