Color encoding in Tableau - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Color encoding

Dashboard Goal

Understand how sales vary by product category and region using color to highlight differences.

Sample Data

Product Category	Region	Sales
Furniture	East	200
Furniture	West	150
Technology	East	300
Technology	West	250
Office Supplies	East	100
Office Supplies	West	120

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales = SUM(Sales) = 1120
• Bar Chart: Sales by Product Category with color encoding by Region.
  Formula: SUM(Sales) grouped by Product Category and Region.
  Color encoding: East region bars in blue, West region bars in orange.
• Table: Detailed sales data with conditional color encoding on Sales values.
  Sales >= 250 colored green, Sales between 150 and 249 colored yellow, Sales < 150 colored red.

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+-------------------------+
|      Total Sales      |     Sales by Category    |
|       (KPI Card)      |    (Bar Chart with       |
|                      |     color encoding)      |
+----------------------+-------------------------+
|                  Detailed Sales Table               |
|          (with conditional color encoding)          |
+-----------------------------------------------------+
    

Interactivity

A filter for Region allows users to select East, West, or both regions.

When a region is selected, the bar chart updates to show only that region's sales with the corresponding color.

The detailed sales table updates to show only rows for the selected region(s), maintaining the color encoding on sales values.

The Total Sales KPI updates to sum sales only for the selected region(s).

Self Check

If you add a filter to select only the East region, which components update?

• The Total Sales KPI updates to show 600 (200 + 300 + 100).
• The Bar Chart updates to show only East region bars in blue.
• The Detailed Sales Table shows only rows with Region = East, with color encoding on sales values.

Key Result

Dashboard showing sales by product category and region with color encoding to highlight differences.