In this article we show how the design of interfaces for the visualization of distributed system load can benefit from the combination of concepts and techniques from Information Visualization and Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Every distributed systems administrator must handle a high volume of information and the exploration and analysis of this data set has become increasingly difficult. We propose how to visualize the parameters involved in the load of a distributed system to obtain an effective visualization tool in order to reduce the user cognitive workload and help the user make the right decisions in a productive way.