5 Simple Tips to Stop Making Commonly Bad Bar Charts

Communicate your data more effectively

Bar charts were probably the first type of chart you were ever introduced to in first grade. Their simplicity makes them a standard in visualizing data, but it is its accessibility that leads visualizers to often be careless with bar charts.

Bar charts are one of the most basic forms of data representation — a continuous variable against a discrete variable — but they are so often presented in ways that could be significantly improved.

In this article, I’ll present five tips you can use to make your bar plot deliver the message it intends to more effectively.

1 | Be careful how you color your charts.

Colors are essential in any chart. They can convey meaning and draw attention to certain parts of the data.

Don’t use vibrant colors for data that conveys the same meaning. Instead, the bars should be similar shades of a color, for example, in the chart below, and can convey a meaning.