There are extra sort of charts and graphs than ever earlier than as a result of there’s extra knowledge. In reality, the amount of information in 2025 might be nearly double the info we create, seize, copy, and eat at this time.
This makes knowledge visualization important for companies. Several types of graphs and charts will help you:
- Encourage your workforce to take motion.
- Impress stakeholders with objective progress.
- Present your viewers what you worth as a enterprise.
Information visualization builds belief and might manage numerous groups round new initiatives. Let’s speak concerning the forms of graphs and charts that you should use to develop your online business.
Totally different Varieties of Graphs for Information Visualization
1. Bar Graph
A bar graph ought to be used to keep away from muddle when one knowledge label is lengthy or when you have greater than 10 objects to check.
Greatest Use Instances for These Varieties of Graphs
Bar graphs will help you examine knowledge between totally different teams or to trace modifications over time. Bar graphs are most helpful when there are massive modifications or to point out how one group compares towards different teams.
The instance above compares the variety of prospects by enterprise position. It makes it simple to see that there’s greater than twice the variety of prospects per position for particular person contributors than another group.
A bar graph additionally makes it simple to see which group of information is highest or commonest.
For instance, at first of the pandemic, on-line companies noticed an enormous leap in visitors. So, if you wish to take a look at month-to-month visitors for a web based enterprise, a bar graph would make it simple to see that leap.
Different use instances for bar graphs embody:
- Product comparisons.
- Product utilization.
- Class comparisons.
- Advertising visitors by month or yr.
- Advertising conversions.
Design Greatest Practices for Bar Graphs
- Use constant colours all through the chart, deciding on accent colours to spotlight significant knowledge factors or modifications over time.
- Use horizontal labels to enhance readability.
- Begin the y-axis at 0 to appropriately mirror the values in your graph.
2. Line Graph
A line graph reveals tendencies or progress over time, and you should use it to point out many alternative classes of information. You need to use it whenever you chart a steady knowledge set.
Greatest Use Instances for These Varieties of Graphs
Line graphs assist customers observe modifications over quick and lengthy intervals. Due to this, some of these graphs are good for seeing small modifications.
Line graphs will help you examine modifications for a couple of group over the identical interval. They’re additionally useful for measuring how totally different teams relate to one another.
A enterprise would possibly use this graph to check gross sales charges for various services or products over time.
These charts are additionally useful for measuring service channel efficiency. For instance, a line graph that tracks what number of chats or emails your workforce responds to per 30 days.
Design Greatest Practices for Line Graphs
- Use stable traces solely.
- Do not plot greater than 4 traces to keep away from visible distractions.
- Use the precise top so the traces take up roughly 2/3 of the y-axis’ top.
3. Bullet Graph
A bullet graph reveals progress in direction of a objective, compares this to a different measure, and supplies context within the type of a ranking or efficiency.
Greatest Use Instances for These Varieties of Graphs
Within the instance above, the bullet graph exhibits the variety of new prospects towards a set buyer objective. Bullet graphs are nice for evaluating efficiency towards targets like this.
These kinds of graphs may assist groups assess doable roadblocks as a result of you’ll be able to analyze knowledge in a decent visible show.
For instance, you would create a sequence of bullet graphs measuring efficiency towards benchmarks or use a single bullet graph to visualise these KPIs towards their targets:
- Income.
- Revenue.
- Buyer satisfaction.
- Common order measurement.
- New prospects.
Seeing this knowledge at a look and alongside one another will help groups make fast selections.
Bullet graphs are among the best methods to show year-over-year knowledge evaluation. You too can use bullet graphs to visualise:
- Buyer satisfaction scores.
- Product utilization.
- Buyer procuring habits.
- Social media utilization by platform.
Design Greatest Practices for Bullet Graphs
- Use contrasting colours to spotlight how the info is progressing.
- Use one shade in several shades to gauge progress.
Totally different Varieties of Charts for Information Visualization
To raised perceive these chart sorts and the way you should use them, here is an summary of every:
1. Column Chart
Use a column chart to point out a comparability amongst totally different objects or to point out a comparability of things over time. You would use this format to see the income per touchdown web page or prospects by shut date.
Greatest Use Instances for This Sort of Chart
You should utilize each column charts and bar graphs to show modifications in knowledge, however column charts are greatest for unfavorable knowledge. The primary distinction, in fact, is that column charts present info vertically whereas bar graphs present knowledge horizontally.
For instance, warehouses typically observe the variety of accidents on the store ground. When the variety of incidents falls beneath the month-to-month common, a column chart could make that change simpler to see in a presentation.
Within the instance above, this column chart measures the variety of prospects by shut date. Column charts make it simple to see knowledge modifications over a time period. Which means that they’ve many use instances, together with:
- Buyer survey knowledge, like exhibiting what number of prospects choose a selected product or how a lot a buyer makes use of a product every day.
- Gross sales quantity, like exhibiting which companies are the highest sellers every month or the variety of gross sales per week.
- Revenue and loss, exhibiting the place enterprise investments are rising or falling.
Design Greatest Practices for Column Charts
- Use constant colours all through the chart, deciding on accent colours to spotlight significant knowledge factors or modifications over time.
- Use horizontal labels to enhance readability.
- Begin the y-axis at 0 to appropriately mirror the values in your graph.
2. Twin-Axis Chart
A dual-axis chart means that you can plot knowledge utilizing two y-axes and a shared x-axis. It has three knowledge units. One is a steady knowledge set, and the opposite is healthier suited to grouping by class. Use this chart to visualise a correlation or the dearth thereof between these three knowledge units.
Greatest Use Instances for This Sort of Chart
A dual-axis chart makes it simple to see relationships between totally different knowledge units. They will additionally assist with evaluating tendencies.
For instance, the chart above exhibits what number of new prospects this firm brings in every month. It additionally exhibits how a lot income these prospects are bringing the corporate.
This makes it easy to see the connection between the variety of prospects and elevated income.
You should utilize dual-axis charts to check:
- Worth and quantity of your merchandise.
- Income and items bought.
- Gross sales and revenue margin.
- Particular person gross sales efficiency.
Design Greatest Practices for Twin-Axis Charts
- Use the y-axis on the left aspect for the first variable as a result of brains naturally look left first.
- Use totally different graphing types as an example the 2 knowledge units, as illustrated above.
- Select contrasting colours for the 2 knowledge units.
3. Space Chart
An space chart is mainly a line chart, however the area between the x-axis and the road is full of a shade or sample. It’s helpful for exhibiting part-to-whole relations, like exhibiting particular person gross sales reps’ contributions to whole gross sales for a yr. It helps you analyze each total and particular person development info.
Greatest Use Instances for These Varieties of Charts
Space charts assist present modifications over time. They work greatest for giant variations between knowledge units and assist visualize massive tendencies.
For instance, the chart above exhibits customers by creation date and life cycle stage.
A line chart may present extra subscribers than advertising and marketing certified leads. However this space chart emphasizes how a lot greater the variety of subscribers is than another group.
These charts make the dimensions of a bunch and the way teams relate to one another extra visually vital than knowledge modifications over time.
Space graphs will help your online business to:
- Visualize which product classes or merchandise inside a class are hottest.
- Present key efficiency indicator (KPI) targets vs. outcomes.
- Spot and analyze business tendencies.
Design Greatest Practices for Space Charts
- Use clear colours so info is not obscured within the background.
- Do not show greater than 4 classes to keep away from muddle.
- Arrange extremely variable knowledge on the prime of the chart to make it simple to learn.
4. Stacked Bar Chart
Use this chart to check many alternative objects and present the composition of every merchandise you’re evaluating.
Greatest Use Instances for These Varieties of Graphs
These graphs are useful when a bunch begins in a single column and strikes to a different over time.
For instance, the distinction between a advertising and marketing certified lead (MQL) and a gross sales certified lead (SQL) is typically onerous to see. The chart above helps stakeholders see these two lead sorts from a single perspective — when a lead modifications from MQL to SQL.
Stacked bar charts are glorious for advertising and marketing. They make it easy so as to add quite a lot of knowledge on a single chart or to make a degree with restricted area.
These graphs can present a number of takeaways, in order that they’re additionally tremendous for quarterly conferences when you’ve loads to say however not quite a lot of time to say it.
Stacked bar charts are additionally a sensible possibility for planning or technique conferences. It is because these charts can present quite a lot of info without delay, however additionally they make it simple to deal with one stack at a time or transfer knowledge as wanted.
You too can use these charts to:
- Present the frequency of survey responses.
- Determine outliers in historic knowledge.
- Evaluate part of a method to its efficiency as an entire.
Design Greatest Practices for Stacked Bar Graphs
- Greatest used as an example part-to-whole relationships.
- Use contrasting colours for better readability.
- Make the chart scale massive sufficient to view group sizes in relation to 1 one other.
5. Mekko Chart
Also called a Marimekko chart, this kind of graph can examine values, measure each’s composition, and present knowledge distribution throughout each.
It is much like a stacked bar, besides the Mekko’s x-axis can seize one other dimension of your values — as an alternative of time development, like column charts typically do. Within the graphic beneath, the x-axis compares the cities to 1 one other.
Greatest Use Instances for This Sort of Chart
You should utilize a Mekko chart to point out progress, market share, or competitor evaluation.
For instance, the Mekko chart above exhibits the market share of asset managers grouped by location and the worth of their property. This chart clarifies which companies handle probably the most property in several areas.
It is also simple to see which asset managers are the biggest and the way they relate to one another.
Mekko charts can appear extra complicated than different forms of charts and graphs, so it is best to make use of these in conditions the place you need to emphasize scale or variations between teams of information.
Different use instances for Mekko charts embody:
- Detailed revenue and loss statements.
- Income by model and area.
- Product profitability.
- Share of voice by business or area of interest.
Design Greatest Practices for Mekko Charts
- Range your bar heights if the portion measurement is a crucial level of comparability.
- Do not embody too many composite values inside every bar. Take into account reevaluating your presentation when you have quite a lot of knowledge.
- Order your bars from left to proper in such a method that exposes a related development or message.
6. Pie Chart
A pie chart exhibits a static quantity and the way classes symbolize half of an entire — the composition of one thing. A pie chart represents numbers in percentages, and the whole sum of all segments must equal 100%.
Greatest Use Instances for This Sort of Chart
The picture above exhibits one other instance of consumers by position within the firm.
The bar graph instance exhibits you that there are extra particular person contributors than another position. However this pie chart makes it clear that they make up over 50% of buyer roles.
Pie charts make it simple to see a bit in relation to the entire, so they’re good for exhibiting:
- Buyer personas in relation to all prospects.
- Income out of your hottest merchandise or product sorts in relation to all product gross sales.
- % of whole revenue from totally different retailer places.
Design Greatest Practices for Pie Charts
- Do not illustrate too many classes to make sure differentiation between slices.
- Be certain that the slice values add as much as 100%.
- Order slices in accordance with their measurement.
7. Scatter Plot Chart
A scatter plot or scattergram chart will present the connection between two totally different variables or reveal distribution tendencies.
Use this chart when there are numerous totally different knowledge factors, and also you need to spotlight similarities within the knowledge set. That is helpful when searching for outliers or understanding your knowledge’s distribution.
Greatest Use Instances for These Varieties of Charts
Scatter plots are useful in conditions the place you’ve an excessive amount of knowledge to see a sample shortly. They’re greatest whenever you use them to point out relationships between two massive knowledge units.
Within the instance above, this chart exhibits how buyer happiness pertains to the time it takes for them to get a response.
This kind of graph makes it simple to check two knowledge units. Use instances would possibly embody:
- Employment and manufacturing output.
- Retail gross sales and inflation.
- Customer numbers and outside temperature.
- Gross sales progress and tax legal guidelines.
Strive to decide on two knowledge units that have already got a constructive or unfavorable relationship. That stated, this kind of graph may make it simpler to see knowledge that falls outdoors of regular patterns.
Design Greatest Practices for Scatter Plots
- Embrace extra variables, like totally different sizes, to include extra knowledge.
- Begin the y-axis at 0 to symbolize knowledge precisely.
- When you use development traces, solely use a most of two to make your plot simple to grasp.
8. Bubble Chart
A bubble chart is much like a scatter plot in that it could possibly present distribution or relationship. There’s a third knowledge set proven by the dimensions of the bubble or circle.
Greatest Use Instances for This Sort of Chart
Within the instance above, the variety of hours spent on-line is not simply in comparison with the consumer’s age, as it will be on a scatter plot chart.
As a substitute, you may also see how the gender of the consumer impacts time spent on-line.
This makes bubble charts helpful for seeing the rise or fall of tendencies over time. It additionally permits you to add another choice whenever you’re attempting to grasp relationships between totally different segments or classes.
For instance, if you wish to launch a brand new product, this chart may provide help to shortly see your new product’s price, threat, and worth. This will help you focus your energies on a low-risk new product with a excessive potential return.
You too can use bubble charts for:
- Prime gross sales by month and placement.
- Buyer satisfaction surveys.
- Retailer efficiency monitoring.
- Advertising marketing campaign critiques.
Design Greatest Practices for Bubble Charts
- Scale bubbles in accordance with space, not diameter.
- Ensure that labels are clear and visual.
- Use round shapes solely.
9. Waterfall Chart
Use a waterfall chart to point out how an preliminary worth modifications with intermediate values — both constructive or unfavorable — and ends in a remaining worth.
Use this chart to disclose the composition of a quantity. An instance of this could be to showcase how totally different departments affect total firm income and result in a selected revenue quantity.
Greatest Use Instances for This Sort of Chart
These kinds of charts make it simpler to grasp how inner and exterior elements impression a product or marketing campaign as an entire.
Within the instance above, the chart strikes from the beginning steadiness on the far left to the ending steadiness on the far proper. Elements within the middle embody deposits, transfers out and in, and financial institution charges.
A waterfall chart provides a fast visible, making complicated processes and outcomes simpler to see and troubleshoot. For instance, SaaS corporations typically measure buyer churn. This format will help visualize modifications in new, present, and free trial customers or modifications by consumer phase.
You may additionally need to strive a waterfall chart to point out:
- Adjustments in income or revenue over time.
- Stock audits.
- Worker staffing critiques.
Design Greatest Practices for Waterfall Charts
- Use contrasting colours to spotlight variations in knowledge units.
- Select heat colours to point will increase and funky colours to point decreases.
10. Funnel Chart
A funnel chart exhibits a sequence of steps and the completion fee for every step. Use this kind of chart to trace the gross sales course of or the conversion fee throughout a sequence of pages or steps.
Greatest Use Instances for These Varieties of Charts
The most typical use case for a funnel chart is the advertising and marketing or gross sales funnel. However there are numerous different methods to make use of this versatile chart.
If in case you have at the very least 4 phases of sequential knowledge, this chart will help you simply see what inputs or outputs impression the ultimate outcomes.
For instance, a funnel chart will help you see the right way to enhance your purchaser journey or procuring cart workflow. It is because it could possibly assist pinpoint main drop-off factors.
Different stellar choices for some of these charts embody:
- Deal pipelines.
- Conversion and retention evaluation.
- Bottlenecks in manufacturing and different multi-step processes.
- Advertising marketing campaign efficiency.
- Web site conversion monitoring.
Design Greatest Practices for Funnel Charts
- Scale the dimensions of every part to precisely mirror the dimensions of the info set.
- Use contrasting colours or one shade in graduated hues, from darkest to lightest, as the dimensions of the funnel decreases.
11. Warmth Map
A warmth map exhibits the connection between two objects and supplies ranking info, akin to excessive to low or poor to glorious. This chart shows the ranking info utilizing various colours or saturation.
Greatest Use Instances for Warmth Maps
Within the instance above, the darker the shade of inexperienced exhibits the place the vast majority of individuals agree.
With sufficient knowledge, warmth maps could make a viewpoint that may appear subjective extra concrete. This makes it simpler for a enterprise to behave on buyer sentiment.
There are numerous makes use of for some of these charts. In reality, many tech corporations use warmth map instruments to gauge consumer expertise for apps, on-line instruments, and web site design.
One other frequent use for warmth map graphs is location evaluation. When you’re looking for the precise location on your new retailer, these maps may give you an thought of what the realm is like in ways in which a go to cannot talk.
Warmth maps may assist with recognizing patterns, in order that they’re good for analyzing tendencies that change shortly, like advert conversions. They will additionally assist with:
- Competitor analysis.
- Buyer sentiment.
- Gross sales outreach.
- Marketing campaign impression.
- Buyer demographics.
Design Greatest Practices for Warmth Map
- Use a fundamental and clear map define to keep away from distracting from the info.
- Use a single shade in various shades to point out modifications in knowledge.
- Keep away from utilizing a number of patterns.
12. Gantt Chart
The Gantt chart is a horizontal chart that dates again to 1917. This chart maps the totally different duties accomplished over a time period.
Gantt charting is likely one of the most important instruments for venture managers. It brings all the finished and uncompleted duties into one place and tracks the progress of every.
Whereas the left aspect of the chart shows all of the duties, the precise aspect exhibits the progress and schedule for every of those duties.
This chart sort means that you can:
- Break tasks into duties.
- Observe the beginning and finish of the duties.
- Set vital occasions, conferences, and bulletins.
- Assign duties to the workforce and people.
Greatest Use Instances for This Sort of Chart
Gantt charts are good for analyzing, highway mapping, and monitoring progress over a time period.
The chart above divides the totally different duties concerned in product creation. Every of those duties has a timeline that may be mapped on the calendar view.
From the imaginative and prescient and technique to the seed funding spherical, the Gantt chart helps venture administration groups construct long-term methods.
The very best half? You may deliver the stakeholders, venture workforce, and managers to a single place.
You should utilize Gantt charts in varied duties, together with:
- Monitoring worker information as a human useful resource.
- Monitoring gross sales leads in a gross sales course of.
- Plan and observe building work.
Design Greatest Practices for Gantt Charts
- Use identical colours for the same group of actions.
- Ensure that to label the duty dependencies to map venture begin and completion.
- Use mild colours that align with the texts and grids of the chart.
13. Treemap
A treemap is a chart that represents hierarchical knowledge in a tree-like diagram. As evident from the identify, treemaps have knowledge organized as branches and sub-branches.
The info within the chart is nested within the type of rectangles and sub-rectangles. Every of those rectangles and sub-rectangles has totally different dimensions and plot colours that are assigned w.r.t to the quantitative knowledge.
Greatest Use Instances for This Sort of Chart
The treemap chart compares the totally different merchandise in a class or sub-category. Within the diagram above, the merchandise are divided by income.
Take a look at the 4 father or mother classes: Fruits, Greens, Dairy, and Meat. That is adopted by subsequent sub-categories or sub-products. The scale of those rectangles are in proportion to their numerical amount and different rectangles in the identical class.
The colours of those rectangles are plotted as per the income generated. Treemap charts are efficient in differentiating between the merchandise that lie in the identical group however are divided into totally different sub-groups.
This type of mapping chart is greatest used:
- When there are tons of of classes and even deeper layers of sub-categories. For instance, Whole votes solid w.r.t. States.
- To review the info with respect to solely two quantitative values.
- To check the efficiency of merchandise and determine similarities and anomalies inside a single or a number of classes.
Design Greatest Practices for Treemaps
- Use contrasting and vivid colours to spotlight variations between sub-categories.
- Arrange the rectangles so as of bigger space to smaller in measurement (i.e., from prime to backside).
- Mark down every rectangle with textual content or numbers to make it simple to learn.
The best way to Select the Proper Chart or Graph for Your Information
Channels like social media or blogs have a number of knowledge sources, and managing these complicated content material property can get overwhelming. What do you have to be monitoring? What issues most?
How do you visualize and analyze the info so you’ll be able to extract insights and actionable info?
1. Determine your targets for presenting the info.
Do you need to persuade or make clear a degree? Are you attempting to visualise knowledge that helped you clear up an issue? Or are you attempting to speak a change that is occurring?
A chart or graph will help you examine totally different values, perceive how totally different components impression the entire, or analyze tendencies. Charts and graphs can be helpful for recognizing knowledge that veers away from what you’re used to or provide help to see relationships between teams.
Make clear your targets, then use them to information your chart choice.
2. Work out what knowledge it’s essential obtain your objective.
Several types of charts and graphs use totally different varieties of information. Graphs often symbolize numerical knowledge, whereas charts are visible representations of information which will or might not use numbers.
So, whereas all graphs are a kind of chart, not all charts are graphs. When you do not have already got the sort of knowledge you want, you would possibly have to spend a while placing your knowledge collectively earlier than constructing your chart.
3. Collect your knowledge.
Most companies acquire numerical knowledge commonly, however you could have to put in some additional time to gather the precise knowledge on your chart. Apart from quantitative knowledge instruments that measure visitors, income, and different consumer knowledge, you would possibly want some qualitative knowledge.
These are another methods you’ll be able to collect knowledge on your knowledge visualization:
- InterviewsÂ
- Quizzes and surveys
- Buyer critiques
- Reviewing buyer paperwork and information
- Neighborhood boards
4. Choose the precise sort of graph or chart.
Selecting the unsuitable visible assist or defaulting to the commonest sort of information visualization may confuse your viewer or result in mistaken knowledge interpretation.
However a chart is just helpful to you and your online business if it communicates your level clearly and successfully.
Ask your self the questions beneath to assist discover the precise chart or graph sort.
Obtain the Excel templates talked about within the video right here.
5 Inquiries to Ask When Deciding Which Sort of Chart to Use
1. Do you need to examine values?
Charts and graphs are good for evaluating one or many worth units, they usually can simply present the high and low values within the knowledge units. To create a comparability chart, use some of these graphs:
- Column
- Mekko
- Bar
- Pie
- Line
- Scatter plot
- Bullet
2. Do you need to present the composition of one thing?
Use this kind of chart to point out how particular person components make up the entire of one thing, just like the gadget sort used for cell guests to your web site or whole gross sales damaged down by gross sales rep.
To point out composition, use these charts:
- Pie
- Stacked bar
- Mekko
- Space
- Waterfall
3. Do you need to perceive the distribution of your knowledge?
Distribution charts provide help to to grasp outliers, the traditional tendency, and the vary of data in your values.
Use these charts to point out distribution:
- Scatter plot
- Mekko
- Line
- Column
- Bar
4. Are you curious about analyzing tendencies in your knowledge set?
If you need extra details about how an information set carried out throughout a selected time, there are particular chart sorts that do extraordinarily properly.
You need to select one of many following:
- Line
- Twin-axis line
- Column
5. Do you need to higher perceive the connection between worth units?
Relationship charts can present how one variable pertains to one or many alternative variables. You would use this to point out how one thing positively impacts, has no impact, or negatively impacts one other variable.
When attempting to determine the connection between issues, use these charts:
Featured Useful resource: The Marketer’s Information to Information Visualization
Obtain this free knowledge visualization information to study which graphs to make use of in your advertising and marketing, displays, or venture — and the right way to use them successfully.
Put these new forms of charts and graphs into motion.
Now that you’ve got chosen the most effective graph or chart on your venture, strive an information visualization useful resource that makes your level clear and visible.
Information visualization is only one a part of nice communication. To point out your prospects, staff, management, and buyers that they are vital, preserve making time to study.
Editor’s word: This put up was initially printed in November 2020 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
