Designing A Web App Dashboard

We use dashboards to monitor key indicators important for our business growth. Poor dashboard design may confuse the user and make all presented information incomprehensible.

Creating a dashboard that clearly communicates your key goals and metrics is not an easy task. It requires the ability to combine a smooth user experience with appealing UI to make boring analytical data easy to read and perceive.

Eleken is a design agency. We have a large experience in making complex things look simple with the help of minimalist and intuitive design. To create a clear and easy to navigate dashboard, we analyze your audience and follow innovative concepts in dashboard design. This way we ensure your dashboard communicates the most significant data for the customer in a simple and easy to understand way.

The importance of a good design can't be underestimated, so we picked twenty dashboard design examples to inspire you. Before you start looking at them, read the tips to help you create a great dashboard.

Tips to create a perfect design

Each dashboard has its own purpose and conveys different kinds of information. Still, there are some common pieces of advice suitable for all types of progress reports.

Stick to the five-second rule. It should take no more than five seconds for the user to find the most important information on the dashboard. In case you look through the data in search of a needed index for a longer period, it means the visual layout requires some improvements. The user wants to have all their questions answered as quickly as possible.

Take care of creating a clear and logical layout. Divide all the information into three parts in descending order of importance. Put the most significant indicators on the top, continue with trends that explain the above insights and put details that allow to learn the issue deeper at the end. This will make the dashboard clear and easy-to-read.

Display only key metrics. Do not overwhelm the user with too many details. Human memory allows us to perceive about seven visuals at a time. A good dashboard should present from five to nine items. This amount of visualizations won't distract the user from their goal.

Visualize data in an appropriate way. You should organize all the information to make it easy to understand. For example, pie charts are suitable to compare several indicators, while graphs are good to track changes in trends in a timeline.

Now let's get down to practice and look at some effective works of designers.

Best dashboard designs

Here are 20 screenshots of cool dashboards created by talented designers for a variety of industries.

Online courses application

The goal of this app was to make it easy for students to attend online lessons. The dashboard shows a good selection of the appropriate colors and proportions that gives the user a quick understanding of each dashboard component.

eCommerce

The eCommerce progress report displays general and financial analytics, and order status. The data is divided into blocks and is structured according to its significance (the most important indicators are in the top, info that provides more details is at the bottom). These characteristics create a clear and logical layout.

Financial app

This example was designed to manage invoices and financial distribution. The right balance between all elements in the interface adds clarity to the layout and makes it easier for the customer to adapt using the app. Blocks highlighted with soft colors promote better metric distinguishing. Icons in the sidebar switch you between different projects.

Task panel

This panel is a good example of a clean and minimalist design. Highlighted blocks stand out on the pale backdrop. Checkboxes make the design more interactive and appealing for users.

Client management platform

clean and minimalistic dashboard design for CRM

This dashboard was created by our designers for Gridle, a client management platform (check the case study). With the help of light, minimalistic design and reasonable use of color the dashboard provides easy navigation, clear visibility and an appealing look.

Banking

The dashboard shows reports, statistics and transactions of a bank card. The designers have done a great job with selecting the color scheme. Bright colors on the soft background highlight significant metrics and attract the user to certain data.

Health tracker

easy to use dashboard design with illustrations and clear UI

Health tracker dashboard is appealing and convenient at the same time. The designer created a clean and clear UI that conveys straightforward functionality and ease of use. Illustrations make this dashboard beautiful and comprehensible for different age groups.

Killer family

Designed by our team, this dashboard is clean and well-structured. Blocks logically separate the information to simplify data perception. The alert report is painted black which attracts the user's view from first glance. The screen contains a side navigation bar that shows the functionality of the app.

Project management

This sample shows a great use of the blur effect in its design, it makes the dashboard visually stunning.

Project management app

minimalistic dashboard design with the vertical navigation bar

A lot of white space and contrast color in the team members block make this dashboard design simple and clear. The dashboard itself is minimalistic and allows the user to pay enough attention to each of its elements. The vertical bar on the left side helps to easily navigate through the app. The data visualization elements are selected in an appropriate way (bar chart for displaying time efficiency and pie chart for daily productivity).

Sales CRM

This example shows us a sales report, managers' metrics, and a list of expected events. The dark background and soft colors create a strong contrast and allow the user to accurately process the presented information.

Weather App

Not always dashboards are full of metrics. This idea for the dashboard layout design of a weather application perfectly performs its function. The dashboard user interface is very appealing with beautiful pictures and pertinent icons. The information is presented in clear blocks so that there is nothing to confuse the user. There is also the possibility to manage personal alerts so that the user gets only relevant notifications.

Task management

card dashboard design with drag and drop function

Here the designer creates a clear and intuitive dashboard with the help of card UI design. The design of each card makes it very easy for users to check basic information about projects (progress, deadline date, etc.) As well a simple drag and drop action allows arranging the project into the desired order.

E-commerce

This kind of dashboard is easy to use and saves the user's time. It doesn't contain too many metrics, the information is logically organized into blocks. The white space combined with colorful graphs attracts customer's attention to important indicators. All these features create a great intuitive design.

Flow builder

minimalistic dashboard design with drag and drop function

This sample shows a great experience of using the drag and drop function.

Task manager board

contrast task manager dashboard design with the Gantt Chart

The task manager board displays a clear and easy to use calendar with tasks. The designer used the Gantt Chart to display tasks and marked them with different bright colors depending on their level of priority. At the same time, white background is distraction free. As well there the board is complete with a convenient vertical navigation bar and to-do block.

Financial service

The dark color scheme of this amazing dash makes it visually appealing for the user. Blocks are painted in bright colors which attract the user's eyes to certain pieces of information and creates a clear layout.

Sales tracking

dashboard design with good visualization of metrics

The designer chose great data visualization for a better perception of information. Charts and graphs promote a better understanding of the key message and help to compare data from different metrics.

Invoice section

clean dashboard design with a nice color scheme

This board possesses a clean design with a nice color scheme and well-structured blocks. These features make it simple to customize each invoice. The style and color scheme do a great job in highlighting metrics and make them easy to analyze.

Websales

dashboard with contrast colors and neutral background and pie charts

The strengths of this example are contrast colors of metrics on the neutral background, nice data visualization (in pie charts and graph) and the side navigation bar.

Conclusion

Dashboard is usually the first screen the user sees as they log in your application. Visually stunning dashboard design is not only a beautiful picture, it is the way to convey the most important information in a simple screen.

If you want to design something that people would love to use, find out more about the way we create a great experience for your user both on the web and mobile platforms. Check our UI/UX Design Services.