When designing a dashboard, we need to get the most out of each section of the screen so that we can design our graphics to maximize the absorption of information. Some visual attributes are more easily perceived than others, and some of them can communicate effectively without having to pay full attention to them. These attributes are called preattentive attributes of visual perception. We will discuss some of them in the context of dashboard design:
Color: There are several ways to describe color. One of the color models is called the HSL model, which is better for humans to understand. In this model, the color is described by three attributes, hue (what we usually call color), saturation (intensity of a color), and lightness or brightness. The perception of color depends on the context. A light color will draw attention if it's surrounded by dark colors; a highly saturated blue will be flashy if the background is a pale color. The dashboard should...