Articles by Stephen Few and Guest Authors

Visual Business Intelligence Newsletter
Time on the Horizon Jun/Jul 2008
What's Up with Tag Clouds? Marti A. Hearst, May 2008
Inflation Matters Jonathan Koomey, Apr 2008
Dual-Scaled Axes in Graphs Mar 2008
Practical Rules for Using Color in Charts Feb 2008
Introduction to Cycle Plots Naomi Robbins, Jan 2008
The Role of Software and the Importance of Thoughtful Defaults Dec 2007
Infovis as Seen by the World Out There: 2007 in Review Oct/Nov 2007
Visualizing Change: An Innovation in Time-Series Analysis Sep 2007
Save the Pies for Dessert Jul/Aug 2007
FYI Visual: The Story of a Product that was Built on a Fault Jun 2007
The Graph Design I.Q. Test May 2007
Intelligent Design: Introducing Tableau 3.0 Apr 2007
Dashboard Confusion Revisited Mar 2007
Sticky Stories Told with Numbers Feb 2007
Information Graphics: A Celebration and Recollection Aaron Marcus, Feb 2007
Pervasive Hurdles to Effective Dashboard Design Jan 2007
Data Visualizations that Set the Bar Where It Ought to Be Dec 2006
Dashboard Design for Rich and Rapid Monitoring Nov 2006

Business Intelligence Network (B-EYE-NETWORK)
Multivariate Analysis Using Heatmaps Oct 2006
Simple Displays of Complex Quantitative Relationships Oct 2006
Multivariate Analysis Using Parallel Coordinates Sep 2006
Graph Designs for Reviewing Transactions... Sep 2006
Review of Beautiful Evidence by Edward Tufte Aug 2006
Graph Designs for Assessing Budget Performance Aug 2006
An Introduction to Visual Multivariate Analysis Jul 2006
TableLens Ramana Rao, Jul 2006
Software Support for Immersive Business Intelligence Jun 2006
Customer Flashcards Chris and Zach Gemignani, Jun 2006
Excel's New Charting Engine May 2006
Hard Facts May 2006
The Surest Path to Visual Discovery Apr 2006
Discovering BI Using Treemap Visualizations Ben Shneiderman, Apr 2006
The Power of Visual Business Intelligence Mar 2006
Dot Plots: A Useful Alternative to Bar Charts Naomi Robbins, Mar 2006
Recommendations for Your Data Visualization Bookshelf Feb 2006
Best Practices for Understanding Data Jonathan Koomey, Feb 2006
Rules for Encoding Values in Graphs Jan 2006
Choosing Colors for Data Visualization Maureen Stone, Jan 2006
Discovering the Source of Business Intelligence Within Dec 2005

DM Review
Uses and Misuses of Color Nov 2005
Creative Visualization: Best in Show Oct 2005
Intelligent Dashboard Design Sep 2005
Boxes of Insight Aug 2005
Viewing Multidimensional Data Through Time Jul 2005
Graphic Grist for the Mill Jun 2005
Keep Radar Graphs Below the Radar — Far Below May 2005
Quantitative vs. Categorical Data April 2005
Dashboard Design: Taking a Metaphor Too Far Mar 2005
Grid Lines in Graphs are Rarely Useful Feb 2005
Bad Graphs: The Stealth Virus Jan 2005

Intelligent Enterprise
Put to the Test: Tableau 2.0 Aug 2006
Advizor Solutions Invites You to a Double Wedding Jan 2006
Visual Detraction Oct 2005
Data Analysis at the Speed of Thought Apr 2005
Elegance through Simplicity Oct 2004
Selecting the Right Graph for Your Message Sep 2004
Tapping the Power of Visual Perception Sep 2004
Common Mistakes in Data Presentation Aug 2004
The Information Cannot Speak for Itself Jul 2004
Dashboard Confusion Mar 2004

His articles...are so plainly practical that I plan on printing them, rolling up the printouts, and beating bad designers on the head with them in the hope of knowledge transfer.

Tony Ramos, PowerPoint Consultant

Whitepapers

With Dashboards, Formatting and Layout Definitely Matter Corda
Three Blind Men and an Elephant Tableau Software
Dashboard Design for Real-Time Situation Awareness Inova Solutions
Improve Your Vision and Expand Your Mind with Visual Analytics Tableau Software
Data Visualization — Past, Present, and Future Cognos
Visual Pattern Recognition Cognos
Visual Communication Cognos
Rich Data, Poor Data — Designing Dashboards to Inform Noetix
Common Pitfalls in Dashboard Design ProClarity
Visual and Interactive Analytics Spotfire
Effectively Communicating Numbers ProClarity

Other Brief Publications

Why Most Dashboards Fail
Bullet Graph Design Specification
Video Interview of Stephen Few by Corda Technologies
Message to Executives about Data Presentation
Designing Effective Tables and Graphs
Practical Problem Solving Jonathan Koomey
Show Me the Numbers Sue Bushell, CIO Magazine

Books by Stephen Few

Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data, Stephen Few, $34.99 (U.S.), O'Reilly Media, 2006

This book alone addresses the visual design of dashboards.

Written by one of the foremost experts in the field of data visualization, this is one of those rare books that seem to make the publication of other works on the same topic unnecessary.

Pabini Gabriel-Petit, CEO and Principal User Experience Architect, Spirit Softworks LLC

Stephen Few has given us much to think about in his new book. His work and design practices for BI dashboard design are clear and to the point. How nice to find a book in which the best practices for dashboard design are all thoughtfully packaged. You are advised to make these mandatory reading for your designers.

Claudia Imhoff, President, Intelligent Solutions, Inc.

In the age of Blink (Malcolm Gladwell's best-seller), meaningful dashboards are essential to quick understanding that guides decision-making on a daily basis and in a crisis. But don't be lured into sparkle and flash. Make sure to follow Stephen Few's guidance so that the key variables are visible and important changes are highlighted.

Dr. Ben Shneiderman, Professor, University of Maryland

The most powerful designs are the ones we do not notice. The real power of designers and developers is in turning something incredibly complex into something amazingly simple. The challenge is not to add new features but to add value and power to products without adding any complexity. Design does not happen by accident. It is the product of careful and deliberate planning. Stephen Few demonstrates this through examples and best practices that are easy to understand and will improve how we display and communicate information. Businesses that value design will leap ahead because they will able to quickly assimilate information, efficiently focus time and efforts, and create alignment, agility and effectiveness. This book provides a running head start!!

Eleanor Taylor, Strategist, SAS Institute

Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten, Stephen Few, $45.00 (U.S.), Analytics Press, 2004

The first book to provide practical and comprehensive instruction in the design of business tables and graphs.

Your book is a real gem. It is clear, concise, and comprehensive. You do a good job of reminding the reader that tables and graphics have to be designed in ways that are consistent with how people process information--that is, with how the human mind works.

Dr. Richard E. Mayer, Professor of Psychology, U.C. Santa Barbara

If you need to visualize complex information, this book will show you how...Compared with Tufte's book on charting, Few is more applied and provides more explicit guidelines for everyday datasets. Also, Few emphasizes business information, whereas Tufte emphasizes scientific datasets.

Jakob Nielsen, Principal, Nielsen Norman Group

This unique book is a must buy for anyone designing executive dashboards or needing to understand how to display information in a meaningful way.

Colin White, President, BI Research

I highly recommend this book because it teaches the critical skill of designing tables and charts essential for every business professional.

Dr. Richard Hackathorn, President, Bolder Technology

"Show Me the Numbers" belongs on every Information Designer's bookshelf next to Tufte's "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information." This is an incredibly well organized and well presented collection of timeless design principles.

Michael Leach, President, Cubic Compass Software

Stephen Few's book is a must read for anyone who needs to find a better way to turn confusing data into useful information. The book is comprehensive, readable, and shows by copious example that there is a better way to get your point across.

Joshua Greenbaum, Principal, Enterprise Applications Consulting

I'm a big fan of the literature from people like Edward Tufte, but applying it to everyday work is too abstract for most people. This book fixes all that, by providing practical, straightforward best practices to handle the situations that come up in the real world. It shows many examples of typical bad designs, why they are bad, and how to fix them, in a way that makes learning the techniques easy. Besides that, it's a beautifully finished book that can serve as both a text and a reference.

Bob Ertl, Director of Product Management

Recommended Books by Other Authors

Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving, Jonathan G. Koomey, Ph.D., Analytics Press, 2001. "Required reading for business analysts, planners, and strategists."

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward R. Tufte, Graphics Press, 1983. "A tour de force."

Information Visualization: Perception for Design, Second Edition, Colin Ware, Morgan Kaufmann, 2004. "This book combines a strictly scientific approach to human perception with a practical concern for the rules governing the effective visual presentation of information."

A Field Guide to Digital Color, Maureen Stone, A. K. Peters, 2003. Perhaps no aspect of information display is as commonly misunderstood and misapplied as color. This book explains how color works, both physically and perceptually, and applies this knowledge to multiple fields and technologies, including computer-based information display.