Dashboard charts where in some higher is better, others lower is better, and in yet others the values should fall between a range

Question

As the title says, how are people approaching having multiple charts in a dashboard, where in some higher is better vs lower is better vs fits in range? All of these charts would have multiple values.

Consider, for example, a case where you want to show 3 charts side by side: 1) revenue by store [higher is better], 2) bad debts/write-offs [lower is better], and 3) price volatility [should be between upper and lower bounds]

I've struggled with this for years, and still haven't found an elegant solution.

Answer 1

Use indicators (usually arrows or carets) and colors to help the user understand whether they're seeing good or bad news.

Google Analytics shows "good news" in green and "bad news" in red, with arrows pointing to whether the numbers are higher or lower. It's always a good idea to not rely solely on color, so you might want to add a small line below the graph that says things like, "Lower bounce rates are better" or "Higher session duration is better".