Analytics for the Internet of Things (IoT)

Be consistent across visuals

In a presentation or in a series of dashboards, make sure to keep your colors and formatting consistent. If the average temperature is shown as a solid blue line in the first chart, make sure it is also a solid blue line in all following charts. Keep colors consistent even if the type of chart changes. If a pressure sensor trend in a line chart is blue, make sure that in a following scatter plot, the points are also blue.

This consistency saves your audience from having to reorient themselves between views. It also helps prevent misinterpretations as it is easy to assume the same color has the same meaning.