Dashboard wireframe with no data

[Amazing_Random]

I need to come up with a dashboard wireframe for a project to be started soon. However, there is no data yet for me to draft based on it. I'm using a sample dataset from PBI. Any tips or guidance on how I can simulate it better? It is my first time making something like this so I'm bit lost as to how I can design a wireframe without having the actual data.

Thanks in advance!

[Suvanu_0608]

It’s tough to visualize a dashboard without real data,, but focusing on layout and flow first really helps.

Think of it like storyboarding — outline key metrics (KPIs, trends, categories) and how they’ll relate on screen. If you want to skip the “fake data” setup, there are several tools that let you wireframe complete dashboards with placeholders — drag cards, charts, and filters, refine spacing and hierarchy, then export the layout directly to Power BI or Tableau once your data’s ready. I use Mokkup.ai for wireframing but you can use any other wireframing dashboard tools available in the market.

Starting layout-first helps you think in terms of storytelling before diving into metrics.

Happy to share a few layout templates or examples if that helps!

[Ujjwal_30]

Hello @Amazing_Random! , I understand the challenges of creating a dashboard wireframe. To simplify the process, I recommend trying out the tool, Mokkup . This user-friendly tool allows you to easily build wireframes by dragging and dropping elements. It has more than 100 build in templates based on the industry you are in, you can take help from there (for KPIs) also. Give it a try, I believe Mokkup will address your needs. 

[Sahir_Maharaj]

Once the data is available, you can use it to fine-tune the wireframe and make any necessary adjustments to the visualizations and layout.

Hope this helps! 🙂

[Sahir_Maharaj]

In addition, you can also try to identify the most important metric or KPI's that will be on your dashboard, and design the wireframe around them. Try to think about what the end user will want to see, and what questions they will want to answer using the data.

[Sahir_Maharaj]

Another approach is to use existing sample data from a similar industry or application. For example, if you are creating a dashboard for a retail company, you can use sample retail data such as sales by category, store, and region. This will give you an idea of how the data is structured and what types of visualizations will be appropriate for different types of data.

[Sahir_Maharaj]

One approach you can take is to create a wireframe based on the types of data you expect to be in your final dataset. For example, if you know that one of the data points you'll be displaying is a count of customers by region, you can create a placeholder visualization (such as a bar chart) in your wireframe with dummy data for the regions and customer count.