Spider Charts

What is a Spider Chart?

A spider chart, also known as a radar chart, is a visual tool that displays multiple dimensions of a single entity on axes starting from the same point. Each axis represents a variable or metric, and points are connected to form a polygon. This makes it easy to compare multiple attributes at a glance, see strengths and weaknesses, and track changes over time.

From a UX Director perspective, spider charts are strategic tools: they provide quick visual insight into experience quality, team performance, or design maturity, enabling informed decisions and clear communication with stakeholders.

1. Evaluating Product Experience Holistically

Spider charts allow UX teams to measure multiple experience dimensions simultaneously, such as usability, accessibility, consistency, aesthetics, performance, and content clarity:

• Example: During a redesign of a complex dashboard, we used a spider chart to score the current product across six dimensions. This visually highlighted areas where usability and accessibility lagged, helping the team prioritize improvements.

2. Comparing Design Options or Concepts

Spider charts make it easy to compare multiple design concepts against the same set of criteria:

• Example: When ideating three new homepage layouts, each concept was evaluated on clarity, engagement, load time, accessibility, and consistency. The spider chart revealed that Concept B scored strongest overall but needed improvement in accessibility, guiding design refinement before stakeholder review.

3. Tracking UX Maturity Over Time

Spider charts can visualize the growth of a product or team’s UX capabilities:

• Example: To assess UX maturity in a growing organization, we measured design system adoption, research integration, cross-functional collaboration, accessibility compliance, and team skill coverage. Over six months, spider charts demonstrated clear improvements across all dimensions, providing a compelling visual story for leadership.

4. Communicating Trade-Offs to Stakeholders

Spider charts help executives and cross-functional partners understand trade-offs between design priorities without needing to dig into detailed reports:

• Example: When presenting a feature roadmap, a spider chart showed how a new set of features would improve usability and engagement but might slightly increase load time. Stakeholders could see the trade-offs visually, supporting faster alignment and decision-making.

5. Facilitating Team Discussions and Prioritization

Spider charts create a shared understanding of quality and priorities within UX teams:

• Example: During design critique sessions, the team used spider charts to rate features on ease of use, visual clarity, and technical feasibility. This structured discussion allowed everyone to align on which improvements would deliver the most impact.

Takeaways

Spider charts are valuable because they:

• Provide quick visual insights into multi-dimensional design and experience quality

• Enable concept comparison and evaluation at a glance

• Show progress and maturity over time for products and teams

• Help communicate trade-offs and rationale to stakeholders

• Support data-driven prioritization for designers and leadership

Portfolio Artifacts / Examples

• Spider charts comparing current vs. proposed UX designs

• UX maturity charts tracking team and process growth over time

• Stakeholder presentation visuals illustrating trade-offs and decision rationale

• Design evaluation charts for feature prioritization or concept scoring