How to decide which chart to use to display information

Marco Piras
Jul 10, 2017 · 1 min read

To compare values:

  • Column
  • Bar
  • Circular Area
  • Line
  • Scatter Plot
  • Bullet

To show the composition of something:

  • Pie (if more than 6 categories, consider using bars)
  • Stacked Bar or Histogram
  • Stacked Column
  • Area
  • Waterfall
  • Treemap

To understand the distribution of data:

  • Scatter Plot
  • Line
  • Column
  • Bar
  • Box and whisker plot

To analyse trends in a data set:

  • Line
  • Dual-Axis Line
  • Column

To better understand the relationship between value sets:

  • Scatter Plot
  • Bubble
  • Line
  • Heatmaps
  • Highlight table

To show the progress against a goal:

  • Bullet chart
  • Gauge chart
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