A Better Way to Display Data Than “Field: Value”

How to think about data visually

How well do you display data to your users? If all you do is present it in a “Field: Value” format, you’re not providing a pleasurable viewing experience. Instead, you’re creating extra visual work that can cause them to misread information.

To illustrate, the example below displays data in a “Field: Value” format. Not only does every data point look the same, but you have multiple addresses and timestamps that look the same. As a result, it’s easy for users to misread them if they’re not careful.

The difference between the “Current Location” and “Destination” data is minuscule. Both display addresses in the same format next to each other. Not only that, but there’s also little difference between “Departure Time” and “Arrival Time.” It’s no wonder why users often misread data.

Think About Data Visually

Humans are visual creatures that can recognize shapes and symbols in as few as 13 milliseconds (source). Half the human brain is devoted to visual information processing (source). Therefore, you must think about your data visually to provide a better viewing experience.

Users are humans, not databases, so don’t always display your data in a “Field: Value” format…