Innovative Tableau

Chapter 38. How to Make Performance Indicator Titles

One of my favorite explanatory tactics in Tableau is to conditionally color a dashboard object based on whether the performance improved or declined. This is an explanatory tactic because it provides only a very high-level explanation of how something is performing, but it works well for several reasons, such as it:

• Helps avoid the question “So what?” by providing at least one comparison point
• Provides an alert that a deeper analysis should take place
• Is almost universally understood by end users

We can use these indicator titles in two ways. First, we can use them behind a callout number to give a bold visual cue that the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) featured is performing better or worse (which we discuss in Chapter 39). Second, we can use them without numbers, making the title of a chart act as a basic data visualization itself. This chapter shows you how to create an indicator title as seen in my visualization, My US Stock Portfolio.

How to Directly Communicate Performance in Chart Titles

Let’s begin by looking at the My US Stock Portfolio dashboard. As you can see, each widget features a title with the name of the asset.

The titles are colored blue if I’ve made money since purchasing the stock, and red if I lost money on the investment:

In this case, my comparison formula was the current price of the stock divided ...