Visualisation Flagship

Data Visualisation, Storytelling and Dashboard Design

Design visualisations and dashboards that direct attention, explain evidence and support clear business decisions.

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Course overview

Turn analytical results into visual communication that drives understanding and action.

Data Visualisation, Storytelling and Dashboard Design develops the judgement required to choose effective visual forms, organise dashboards and communicate analytical findings with clarity.

Participants learn how audience, question, comparison, hierarchy, context and visual perception influence design choices, then practise turning analytical evidence into a concise narrative and decision-focused dashboard.

The course avoids decoration-led design and emphasises truthful scales, meaningful context, accessible presentation and action-oriented communication.

Learning outcomes

What participants will be able to do.

  • Select appropriate charts for common analytical questions.
  • Apply visual-perception and hierarchy principles to improve clarity.
  • Use colour, labels, scales and annotations responsibly.
  • Design dashboard layouts around user decisions and information priorities.
  • Provide useful context through targets, trends and comparisons.
  • Build an evidence-based analytical story from finding to recommendation.
  • Identify misleading or inaccessible visualisation practices.
  • Prototype and critique a decision-focused dashboard.

Who should attend

Designed for professionals who use data, analysis or evidence to improve decisions.

  • Business, data and performance analysts.
  • BI and reporting professionals.
  • Finance, operations and planning teams.
  • Managers who present data-driven recommendations.
  • Professionals responsible for executive dashboards and performance packs.

Prerequisites

Professionally relevant and application-focused.

Participants should have basic familiarity with business data and charts. No specific BI or visualisation software is required.

Course structure

A five-Module journey from analytical understanding to workplace application.

The sequence may be delivered across five days or adapted to another approved format while preserving the learning outcomes and the five connected Modules.

1

Module 1

Visual Questions, Perception and Chart Choice

  • Audience, purpose and decision context
  • Comparison, distribution, relationship and composition
  • Pre-attentive attributes and visual hierarchy
  • Choosing charts for analytical intent
2

Module 2

Truthful and Accessible Visual Design

  • Scales, axes, baselines and proportionality
  • Colour, contrast, labels and annotation
  • Reducing clutter and non-data ink
  • Accessibility and inclusive interpretation
3

Module 3

Dashboard Information Architecture

  • Dashboard users and decision tasks
  • KPI context, targets and thresholds
  • Layout, hierarchy and navigation
  • Executive, operational and analytical dashboard patterns
4

Module 4

Data Storytelling and Insight Communication

  • Narrative structure for analytical findings
  • Context, evidence, implication and recommendation
  • Annotations and explanatory visuals
  • Balancing simplicity with analytical integrity
5

Module 5

Prototype, Critique and Workplace Application

  • Dashboard wireframing and prototyping
  • Design critique using quality criteria
  • Stakeholder feedback and iteration
  • Integrated dashboard/storytelling case and action plan

Learning experience

Move from understanding to application, production and workplace value.

Understand

Connect concepts with business decisions

Clarify methods, assumptions, evidence requirements and the decision context before applying tools.

Apply

Work through realistic analytical cases

Use datasets, scenarios and decision questions to practise analytical judgement in context.

Produce

Create practical analytical outputs

Develop artefacts that can be adapted to reporting, modelling, governance or decision-support work.

Review

Challenge evidence and analytical choices

Use peer review, validation criteria and facilitated critique to improve analytical reasoning.

Transfer

Apply the learning at work

Identify how to adapt the methods to organisational data, decisions, systems and governance requirements.

Completion requirements

Demonstrate participation, application and professional judgement.

  • Participate actively in case discussions, data exercises and analytical workshops.
  • Complete the principal analytical or decision-support outputs assigned during the programme.
  • Contribute to the integrated case, model, dashboard or application workshop.
  • Complete knowledge checks and a workplace application or study plan.

Participant outputs

Leave with practical analytical artefacts.

  • Visualisation selection guide.
  • Dashboard user-and-decision brief.
  • KPI display specification.
  • Dashboard wireframe or prototype.
  • Analytical story outline.
  • Visual QA and accessibility checklist.

Delivery options

Select the learning format that fits your people and analytical environment.

Instructor-led

Live Classroom

Facilitated face-to-face learning with analytical cases, datasets, modelling tasks, discussion and immediate feedback.

Instructor-led

Live Virtual Classroom

Interactive online delivery using collaborative workspaces, data exercises, breakout analysis and guided model development.

Flexible

Blended Learning

A structured combination of preparation, live facilitation, applied assignments, analytical work and follow-up application.

Organisation-specific

Corporate and In-Company

Tailored delivery aligned with organisational datasets, measures, tools, governance, decisions and analytics maturity where appropriate.

Frequently asked questions

Course information and participation.

Is this course specific to Power BI, Tableau or another tool?

No. The design principles are tool-independent. Exercises may use available tools, but the emphasis is transferable visual and communication judgement.

Will participants build dashboards?

Yes. Participants create and critique dashboard prototypes focused on real decision needs.

Does the course cover data storytelling?

Yes. Participants learn to connect context, evidence, implication and recommendation without overstating what the data shows.

Can we use our existing dashboards in corporate delivery?

Yes. Approved dashboards can be reviewed against the course design principles and decision criteria.

Does completion provide professional certification?

The course develops practical visualisation, storytelling and dashboard-design capability and may provide an INDENTRA course-completion record where applicable. It is not a third-party certification.

Take the next step

Make analytical insight visible, understandable and actionable.

Discuss a public course or a corporate dashboard-improvement programme using your organisation’s reporting and performance environment.

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