# Design a dashboard people will actually use

A dashboard brief: audience, questions, metrics, layout, and chart choices.

- Topic: Data & Analysis
- Framework: RCTFVV
- Level: Advanced
- Tags: Data & Analytics, Analyze, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/design-a-dashboard-people-will-actually-use

## Prompt

```text
Role: Act as a BI analyst designing a dashboard.

Context: Audience and the decisions they make: [AUDIENCE_DECISIONS]. The questions the dashboard must answer, in priority order: [QUESTIONS]. Metrics and their definitions: [METRICS]. Data grain, history and refresh: [DATA]. Comparison needs (vs target, prior period, segment): [COMPARISONS]. Tool and any design system: [TOOL]. Constraints (screen size, load time, accessibility): [CONSTRAINTS].

Task: Produce: the audience and top tasks; a question-to-metric-to-visual map (for each question: the metric, the chart type and why it suits the question, the comparison shown, and the grain); a layout (what is above the fold, the reading order, grouping); the interactions (filters, drill paths) and their defaults; and the accessibility considerations (colour, labels, alternatives to colour-coding).

Format: Sections: Audience & tasks | Question -> metric -> visual (table) | Layout | Interactions & defaults | Accessibility. ~500 words.

Verification: Flag any chart choice that could mislead (dual axes, truncated axis, pie with many slices, 3D) and any question with no clear metric. Every tile must map to a listed question.

Validation: Test with the top decision the audience makes: does the layout put the answer in front of them fast? Reorder if the key tile is buried.
```

## What to fill in

- AUDIENCE_DECISIONS
- QUESTIONS
- METRICS
- DATA
- COMPARISONS
- TOOL
- CONSTRAINTS

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.