Turn a hand-drawn table into a clean dashboard

Write the table clearly and photograph it

One table per page, with a title, column headings and units. In the reel the tables were "sales.xlsx" (month and sales), "habits" (four habits, a cross or a dash for each day), "budget - oct" (what and £) and "squat log" (week and kg).

Write numbers clearly and photograph straight on in good light. A blurry 1 that looks like a 7 will end up on your chart.

sales.xlsx

habits

Have Claude type it up and check it with you

This is the step that matters most. Ask Claude to transcribe the table before it draws anything, and to mark anything it isn't sure of. Read it against your page and correct it.

Only say "go" when the numbers match. A good-looking chart of the wrong numbers is worse than no chart.

Here is a photo of my table. Don't make any charts yet. First type it up as a table exactly as written, including units and blanks. Mark anything you're not sure about with (?) and tell me what you think it says. Add up any columns that have a total so I can compare. Then wait for me to confirm.

Ask for the right chart for each table

Values over time suit bars. Yes/no per day suits a heatmap. Parts of a whole suit a donut. A measurement that keeps changing suits a line. Claude can choose, but it helps to say what you want to see at a glance, for example "am I getting stronger?" or "where does the money go?".

Those numbers are right. Build a dashboard as a single HTML file: bars for values over time (latest period in full colour, earlier ones faded), a green/grey heatmap for yes/no per day, a donut with a legend for parts of a whole, and a line with points for anything I'm tracking upwards, with a "New PR" badge if the last value is the best. White rounded cards on a light grey page, Inter font, one blue accent.

Make every number earn its place

A headline number on each card makes a dashboard readable in a second: the total, the streak, the latest value. Ask Claude to calculate them from the data and to say what every percentage compares. "+44%" means nothing; "+44% Apr–Jun vs Jan–Mar" means something.

Ask for a "Check the numbers" panel that shows the raw tables, so anyone looking at the dashboard can see where each figure came from.

Add a headline number to each card, calculated from the data, never typed in: the total for sales and budget, the longest current streak for habits, the latest value for the lift. Label every comparison with what it compares. Add a collapsible "Check the numbers" panel with the raw tables. Then re-add the totals yourself and tell me they match.

Put it all on one screen

Ask for the combined view: two small cards side by side on top, the wider charts underneath, and one column on a phone. Open it on your phone and check nothing scrolls sideways.

Put all four cards on one screen: the two smaller charts side by side, the heatmap and the line chart full width below. One column on phones. Cards pop in and the numbers count up when the page opens, but no animation for people who turn motion off.

Keep it up to date

Ask Claude to keep all the numbers in one block at the top of the file. Next month, add a row there yourself, or send Claude a new photo and ask it to update only the data.