Article · 8 min read

Decluttering Your Chart

Yan Holtz and Conor Healy · Data to Viz Free Beginner

A free, focused reference showing a cluttered chart transformed into a clean one, with each removal explained. It is quick to skim and gives you a concrete sense of how much you can safely delete. Good to keep open while you edit a real dashboard tile.

  • Most default chart settings add noise you should delete
  • Fewer colors and lighter axes improve readability instantly
  • Highlight one series and mute the rest

The question it answers

  1. How do I make a data-heavy dashboard readable instead of an overwhelming wall of numbers?

Read with it

  1. This is the reference founders reach for when a dashboard has turned into a wall of numbers nobody reads. Few grounds every... Analytics Press / Amazon Book · ~250 pages Information Dashboard Design: Displaying Data for At-a-Glance Monitoring Stephen Few
  2. This playbook helps you name the single metric that represents the value your product delivers, plus the few inputs that move... Amplitude Template · Guide (PDF) The North Star Playbook Amplitude
  3. This is the most practical starting point for anyone whose dashboard reads like a wall of numbers. Knaflic (ex Google People... Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic Book · 288 pages Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
  4. Instead of theory, this book shows dozens of real dashboards across sales, finance, support, and operations, then explains why... Steve Wexler, Jeffrey Shaffer, Andy Cotgreave Book · 440 pages The Big Book of Dashboards Steve Wexler, Jeffrey Shaffer, Andy Cotgreave
  5. Cairo teaches you to treat a chart as a tool with a job, not decoration, which is exactly the mindset that turns a wall of... Alberto Cairo Book · 384 pages The Functional Art: An Introduction to Information Graphics and Visualization Alberto Cairo
  6. This is the source of the data-ink idea: every pixel that is not carrying information should be questioned or removed. If your... Edward Tufte Book · 200 pages The Visual Display of Quantitative Information Edward Tufte
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →