I’ve spent a lot of time in life reading. In fact, back in my college days I dedicated a significant amount of effort in studying literature and my favorite genre (obviously) is Science Fiction.

Why’s that relevant? Well, I find myself thinking about visualization and dashboards (again) and then I got to thinking about Science Fiction (no it’s not stream-of-consciousness). Good Science Fiction is not just escapism and if anyone thinks otherwise I challange you to read Frank Herbert’s Dune in the context of the Middle East today.

Good Sci Fi takes contemporary issues, problems or ideas and puts them in an unfamiliar context so that those issues stand out. In the unfamiliar context of the future, psychological distance is created between the reader and the issues so that not only do they stand out but the issues are open to be dealt with by the reader because they are no longer ‘too close to the problem’.

Dashboards and dashboard elements tend to do the same thing - but inside out. They take the data and put it into a familiar context. Taking the data into a familiar (but not obviously related) context makes the information the data is trying to communicate stand out.

So what? You ask again. When you’re designing a report and looking for ways to make the information ‘pop’ try to consider visual cues that are familiar to your audience and see if you can’t bring the data to life in that (those) familiar item(s).

By the way, it’s NOT easy, it’s a big hard IF, but when it happens, the report will absolutely sing.