Dashboard design
We convey our visual identity through the products we build. Design guidelines help us to work together on sophisticated digital products, using a standardised visual language.
The NHS Identity is one of the most recognised and cherished brands in the world. It evokes trust and reassurance.
Branding is the art of becoming knowable, likeable, and trustable.
John Jantsch
A style guide helps us to ensure a continuous brand experience for our users. When style is applied consistently across NHS products, it fosters loyalty and trust across all user touch-points.
These guidelines are for developers, product owners and quality assurance testers working on data visualisation products in the NHS.
Quotes from users
They've got the NHS blue - we can trust them.
Public Research, 2015
The NHS logo makes me feel that it is a service which I can trust.
Public Research, 2015
The logo says safe and secure. When I see that sign rather than another, I know that I’m in good hands wherever I am.
Public Research, 2015
Benefits
These design guidelines are useful for:
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Creating trust
A clearly recognisable brand helps to engender trust that the product is authentic, and can help users to more easily identify of fraud / phishing attempts
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Delivering a consistent brand experience
Design guidelines specify the exact sizing and formatting requirements so that developers from different teams create products that are instantly recognisable as NHS products.
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Saving development time
Having one standard for data visualisation development teams aids collaboration. These guidelines are a tool which can be relied upon for quicker interaction times and consistent digital experiences for users.
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Faster onboarding
Having an agreed style guide will help new team members to get up to speed quickly and enable them to make design decisions, soon after joining us.
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Aligning to standards
Creating a unified visual experience across the product and considering how this links across analytical products will ensure a strong, professional and positive perception
Dashboard purpose
You should think about the following questions before designing a dashboard:
If a dashboard is right for your project, consider it from the users perspective. Who are they? Could they benefit from a detailed report or one easy to read page? Think about the questions that each page will be answering and who would be asking the question.