INTRODUCTION
Choosing the right chart will display your message effectively in the presentation. Excel has many graphs and charts available in the application, but for different types of data to be represented and purposes behind it. In this book we are going to introduce popular types of charts offered by Excel, including explaining when to use what chart and how you might maximize the impact with its use.
- Column Chart
Best suited for: Comparing things within categories
Description: Column charts are particularly effective when showing discrete values spread out across categories, such as sales by product line or revenue by region.
Use column charts when you have items to compare side by side or want to present trends over time using multiple values.
Limit the number of categories you put on a column chart to 5-10 in order to avoid cluttering, and use contrasting colors to draw attention to the columns you want them to notice.
- Bar Chart
Best for: horizontal comparisons
Description: Similar to column charts but in a horizontal orientation, bar charts can also be used to make comparisons of quantities over categories.
When To Use: Use bar charts when category names are longer or when you want to compare items where the length of bars can help for comparison of differences.
Pro Tips: You can best use this to show performance metrics or survey results, especially when values are stretched over wide ranges.
- Line Chart
Best suited for: Trends over time
Description: Line charts connect points with lines. Trends and patterns are immediately obvious by tracing the line.
Use for: To track metrics over time—like revenue in a quarter, year-on-year product performance.
Pro Tips: Don’t clutter the chart by having more than 3-5 lines and use data markers to emphasize your points.
- Pie Chart
Best Used For: Parts of a Whole
Description: Pie charts represent percentages that show what constituent parts make up a whole.
Application: Apply a pie chart to indicate the contribution percentages or to emphasize a significant large percentage.
Tips: Use as few segments as 4-6, since more will be too crowded. If you have many small figures, consider displaying it as a grouped one or consider using a bar or column graph instead.
- Doughnut Chart
For: parts of a whole that have multiple layers.
Description: A doughnut chart is essentially a pie chart but has no center to allow multiple series or layers.
When to Use: Doughnut charts are in cases where you have a need to compare multiple “wholes” compositions or reveal subcategories within each segment.
Pro Tips: Limit the use of rings to only keep it simple. Apply in case you have two affiliated datasets to present in the same visualization.
- Area Chart
Best For: Association between two variables
Description: This tool uses scatter plots to illustrate how two variables are interrelated.
When to Use: Use the scatter plots to explore how different variables are related to one another. It also gets applied when you are making a comparison and contrast data point or searching for an outlier in the given data.
Pro Tips: Use it when trying to find some type of pattern or correlation that could be present within the data. Also use when you are comparing categorical data.
7. Stacked Bar Chart
Best For: Correlations between variables
Description: Scatter plots are used to plot data points for two variables, often to illustrate correlations or outliers.
When to Use: Use scatter plots when you are looking at the relationship between two variables, such as sales volume vs. profit.
Pro Tips: Add trend lines for clarity. Use with datasets that have distinct clusters or noticeable trends.
- Bubble Chart
Best For: Multi-variable comparison
Description: A scatter plot that shows the data points as bubbles whose sizes differ.
When To Use: Use the chart on a dataset with three variables, like, for instance, sales performance, which goes along the x-axis, the cost along the y-axis, and profits, which go as the size of the bubble.
Pro Tips: Limit the number of bubbles to 10 to 15 to ensure it is not crowded. The chart works best if you are in a scenario where you have to put across a third data dimension.
- Stacked Column and Stacked Bar Charts
Best For: Part-to-whole relationship over categories
Description: These charts stack data series in columns or bars, showing cumulative contributions.
When to Use: Use for categories that have sub-categories, like total expenses by department broken down by month.
Pro Tips: Keep data segments manageable (under 5), or the chart can become hard to read. Stacked charts are great for emphasizing overall and individual contributions.
- Waterfall Chart
Best for: Sequential data flow
Description: Waterfall charts show how incremental positive and negative values impact a starting point to reach an end point.
When to Use: Use waterfall charts to depict financial data such as revenue splits, profit comparisons, or budget versus actual expenses.
Pro Tips: Suitable for illustrating cumulative effect (such as expense on net profit) without needing explanations. Excel offers an inbuilt waterfall chart option.
- Combo Chart
Best for: Mixed data types
Description: Combination charts are two chart types combined into one, for example, a bar and a line.
When to Use: Use combination charts when you have different data types that need to be compared, like revenue on bars and profit margin as a line.
Pro Tips: Make sure each type of chart is different, with a purpose. Amazing for combining data that comes in different scales.
CONCLUSION
There is a right chart in Excel for each type, and making the right choice makes management presentations effective and captivating. The best choice will get you to ensure that insights are communicated clearly and with strength by picking the perfect chart to tell your data’s story: trends, comparisons, or correlations.