Overlapping bar chart from the WSJ. Part 2.
In the previous post we recreated the line chart that was a part of “The Taj Truck” graphic made by the Wall Street Journal. Today, we will reproduce the overlapping bar chart using basic Excel tools. Unlike the Part 1, this chart won’t take nearly as much time to complete.
Step 1. Layout your data.
Layout your data and make a clustered bar chart with two series.
Step 2. Put the “inside” bar on the secondary axis.
Left-click on the Series 2 — orange colored-to select it > right-click > format data series > secondary axis.
Next, delete the secondary axis, and now your second series should be placed inside the blue bar. Click on the blue bar and decrease the gap width until you reach the desired result.
Delete the gridlines, Y-axis, X-axis, and the chart title.
Step 3. Add labels.
Left-click t select series > add data labels > click on the data labels > format data labels > label position > inside end. Repeat the same steps for another series. That’s it.
Last but not least, let’ put the two charts together in PowerPoint. Here is what our graphic will look like using non-WSJ fonts.
