Build a 'Headline First' Dashboard: Three Tiles, One Sentence Each

The “Where’s Wally?” of Data

I reviewed a Google Looker Studio dashboard recently that had 24 different charts on the first page. It was a kaleidoscope of anxiety.

There was a line chart for sales. A bar chart for region. A table for products. A scatter plot for something I couldn’t even identify.

I asked the analyst, “What is the story here?” He said, “Well, the client can see everything.”

That is not a feature. That is a bug. When you show “everything,” you are asking the client to play “Where’s Wally?” (or “Where’s Waldo?” for my American friends). You are asking them to hunt through the crowd of data to find the one guy in the striped shirt who matters.

It is bad manners. We are consultants. Our job is not to present the haystack; it is to hand over the needle.

The Clutter: The Widget addiction

We add widgets because it feels like work. “Oh, I’ll just add a device breakdown here.” “I’ll squeeze in a demographic pie chart there.”

Suddenly, the screen is full. It looks impressive. It looks complex. But the Time-to-Insight is five minutes.

In a meeting, this is deadly. The client spends the first ten minutes trying to orient themselves. “Which axis is this? Is this year-to-date?” The energy in the room dies.

The Clarity: The Three-Tile Rule

I force my team to build “Headline First” dashboards. The top of the screen is not a filter bar. It is three large tiles.

And here is the trick: Each tile must have a dynamic sentence.

Not just a number. A sentence.

• Tile 1 (The Outcome):
  • Metric: £1.2M Revenue
  • Sentence: “We are 12% ahead of target due to strong Black Friday performance.”
• Tile 2 (The Driver):
  • Metric: £4.50 CPA
  • Sentence: “Acquisition costs dropped this week as we paused the expensive Display ads.”
• Tile 3 (The Action):
  • Metric: Inventory Level
  • Sentence: “Stock is low on top sellers. We need to reorder by Tuesday.”

[TO EDITOR: Wireframe of a dashboard screen. Top 1/3rd of the screen is dominated by three large rectangular cards. Inside each card is a Big Number and a bold text sentence underneath it. The rest of the charts are pushed down below the fold or faded out.]

When the client opens this, they know exactly where they stand in five seconds.

1. We are winning on revenue.
2. We saved money on ads.
3. We need to buy stock.

Sorted.

The charts below can provide the evidence, but the top layer provides the thinking.

If you can’t write a sentence about your data, you don’t understand it yet. Don’t make the client write the sentence for you. Be the author, not just the librarian.

FAQs

Can a dashboard really just be three tiles?

The *home* screen should be. You can hide the complexity on other tabs. But the landing page must be calm.

Why do I need to write sentences? Can't the chart speak for itself?

Charts are terrible speakers. They mumble. You need to provide the translation.

What if there are more than three important things?

There never are. Prioritize. If everything is priority one, nothing is.