Designing visual hierarchies for the communication of health data

Abstract Objectives Visual hierarchy underlies all visual design decisions related to information presentation. This manuscript describes the experience of a multidisciplinary health data visualization and software design team in using visual hierarchy to redesign a hereditary colorectal cancer lab report. Materials and Methods A series of interviews with representative users were conducted to identify target user groups and determine information hierarchy for each user type. Visual elements (eg, size, color, contrast, etc.) were then assigned to mirror the information hierarchy and workflow for each user type. Results User research identified 2 distinct user groups as consumers of the redesigned lab report. An interactive design employing a 2-level page hierarchy was developed, which stratified the content to support the needs of each user type. Conclusions The challenges related to displaying the complex nature of digital and personal health data can be addressed by applying foundational design methods such as visual hierarchy. Discussion Visual hierarchy, a foundational design principle, can be used by visualization teams to clearly and efficiently present complex datasets associated with healthcare.