I first heard this objection from a client a number of years ago and it took me so off-guard that I just stared at them and then mumbled something about getting back to them on that. It just seemed like such a bizarre thing to say…

Since that time, I’ve heard this objection at least half a dozen times and have had a chance to formulate a couple of responses that usually convince dashboard users to rethink their “no red” policy.

You may or may not be familiar with Marimekko charts, but they're popular in some fields, such as management consulting.

To see why I avoid using this chart type and what I use instead, check out my latest video (8 mins.).

I regularly hear complaints from dashboard creators that go something like this:

• "My users consider dozens of metrics (or more) to be ‘KPIs’ and they want me to put them all on the dashboard."

• "My users don’t understand that, among all the metrics that we could show on the dashboard, only three to five of them are truly important. The rest are just noise that distract from the truly important numbers, and so don’t belong on the dashboard."

Think about that for a second, though. Does it seem plausible that someone could run an entire team, department, or organization based on just five numbers?

As these simple before and after examples show, direct labeling is a simple fix that can significantly improve the readability of your charts.