Think about your latest Thanksgiving Dinner you attended. How was the food served? Was it on the center of the table or was it more buffet style? Before we talk about plates as cards, we should first talk about whether you should choose App Studio or Dashboards. For me, the answer depends on time and familiarity with Domo. If are in a time crunch and the user is familiar with Domo, then just use Dashboards as you can always import dashboards into App Studio. However, if you have more time, multiple pages, etc, go ahead and build out in App Studio.
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​Now if we think of App Studio and Dashboards as the table, then charts are plates. We need to determine if we are using the right plate. When building, ask yourself if this chart can be understood within three seconds. If not, maybe you need more than one or maybe a new chart entirely.

How can you make a jet fly faster? We have multiple ways such as burning more jet fuel and making the plane lighter. Another way though is by reducing drag. The same applies to Domo cards. I often say "I don't like flowers on my plate. If I can't eat it, I don't want it on my plate." Similarly, we can reduce the drag of cards by removing unnecessary clutter on cards. Here are some common elements I remove from cards:​

There are so many nuances to this, but wanted to show you some examples to get the point across.

This is one of the most common pitfalls I see in Dashboard Design - putting too much on one plate. Unexperienced data designers have the urge to put every insight onto one chart so that the story is all there. The problem is that we lose focus on what is being told. For instance, if I had a plate of thanksgiving food that had a section of mashed potatoes, another section for stuffing, another section for turkey, etc, it would look like a paint pallet. That's fine for home, but not fine dining. You would expect the restaurant to have a base layer of mashed potatoes, then a layer of stuffing, then turkey, drizzled with gravy and then a little cranberry on top for garnish.
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​By layering, we are able to help the user focus on what we want to show. Additionally, just like having salty and sweet, we can have two cards that accompany each other instead of putting everything onto one card. In Domo's App Studio, the gallery view is an excellent example of providing layers to make the data more noticeable.

The reason why I enjoy cooking for people is the same reason why I enjoy making dashboards for people - I love seeing their eyes brighten when they see my creations. So this guide is meant to push you to create highly engaging visuals so you can bring smiles to faces. To help with that I have some free gifts for you: