16 Finest Varieties of Charts and Graphs for Information Visualization [+ Guide]

There are extra kind of charts and graphs than ever earlier than as a result of there’s extra knowledge. In truth, the quantity of information in 2025 will probably be virtually double the information we create, seize, copy, and eat in the present day.

This makes knowledge visualization important for companies. Several types of graphs and charts may also help you:

• Inspire your staff to take motion.
• Impress stakeholders with objective progress.
• Present your viewers what you worth as a enterprise.

Information visualization builds belief and might arrange numerous groups round new initiatives. Let’s discuss concerning the varieties of graphs and charts that you should utilize to develop your corporation.

Completely different Varieties of Graphs for Information Visualization

1. Bar Graph

A bar graph ought to be used to keep away from litter when one knowledge label is lengthy or in case you have greater than 10 objects to match.

Finest Use Circumstances for These Varieties of Graphs

Bar graphs may also help you examine knowledge between completely different teams or to trace adjustments over time. Bar graphs are most helpful when there are large adjustments or to point out how one group compares in opposition to different teams.

The instance above compares the variety of prospects by enterprise function. It makes it simple to see that there’s greater than twice the variety of prospects per function for particular person contributors than some other group.

A bar graph additionally makes it simple to see which group of information is highest or most typical.

For instance, at first of the pandemic, on-line companies noticed an enormous leap in site visitors. So, if you wish to take a look at month-to-month site visitors for an internet enterprise, a bar graph would make it simple to see that leap.

Different use circumstances for bar graphs embody:

• Product comparisons.
• Product utilization.
• Class comparisons.
• Advertising site visitors by month or yr.
• Advertising conversions.

Design Finest Practices for Bar Graphs

• Use constant colours all through the chart, deciding on accent colours to spotlight significant knowledge factors or adjustments over time.
• Use horizontal labels to enhance readability.
• Begin the y-axis at 0 to appropriately replicate the values in your graph.

2. Line Graph

A line graph reveals developments or progress over time, and you should utilize it to point out many various classes of information. It is best to use it if you chart a steady knowledge set.

Finest Use Circumstances for These Varieties of Graphs

Line graphs assist customers monitor adjustments over quick and lengthy durations. Due to this, these kind of graphs are good for seeing small adjustments.

Line graphs may also help you examine adjustments for multiple group over the identical interval. They’re additionally useful for measuring how completely different teams relate to one another.

A enterprise may use this graph to match 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 staff responds to per thirty days.

Design Finest Practices for Line Graphs

• Use strong strains solely.
• Do not plot greater than 4 strains to keep away from visible distractions.
• Use the fitting peak so the strains take up roughly 2/3 of the y-axis’ peak.

3. Bullet Graph

A bullet graph reveals progress in the direction of a objective, compares this to a different measure, and gives context within the type of a score or efficiency.

Finest Use Circumstances for These Varieties of Graphs

Within the instance above, the bullet graph reveals the variety of new prospects in opposition to a set buyer objective. Bullet graphs are nice for evaluating efficiency in opposition to objectives like this.

A majority of these graphs may assist groups assess doable roadblocks as a result of you may analyze knowledge in a good visible show.

For instance, you may create a collection of bullet graphs measuring efficiency in opposition to benchmarks or use a single bullet graph to visualise these KPIs in opposition to their objectives:

• Income.
• Revenue.
• Buyer satisfaction.
• Common order dimension.
• New prospects.

Seeing this knowledge at a look and alongside one another may also help groups make fast choices.

Bullet graphs are the most effective methods to show year-over-year knowledge evaluation. You can too use bullet graphs to visualise:

• Buyer satisfaction scores.
• Product utilization.
• Buyer purchasing habits.
• Social media utilization by platform.

Design Finest Practices for Bullet Graphs

• Use contrasting colours to spotlight how the information is progressing.
• Use one colour in numerous shades to gauge progress.

Completely different Varieties of Charts for Information Visualization

To raised perceive these chart varieties and the way you should utilize them, here is an summary of every:

1. Column Chart

Use a column chart to point out a comparability amongst completely different objects or to point out a comparability of things over time. You could possibly use this format to see the income per touchdown web page or prospects by shut date.

Finest Use Circumstances for This Kind of Chart

You should use each column charts and bar graphs to show adjustments in knowledge, however column charts are greatest for detrimental knowledge. The principle distinction, after all, is that column charts present info vertically whereas bar graphs present knowledge horizontally.

For instance, warehouses typically monitor the variety of accidents on the store flooring. When the variety of incidents falls under 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 adjustments over a time period. Because of this they’ve many use circumstances, together with:

• Buyer survey knowledge, like displaying what number of prospects want a particular product or how a lot a buyer makes use of a product every day.
• Gross sales quantity, like displaying which providers are the highest sellers every month or the variety of gross sales per week.
• Revenue and loss, displaying the place enterprise investments are rising or falling.

Design Finest Practices for Column Charts

• Use constant colours all through the chart, deciding on accent colours to spotlight significant knowledge factors or adjustments over time.
• Use horizontal labels to enhance readability.
• Begin the y-axis at 0 to appropriately replicate the values in your graph.

2. Twin-Axis Chart

A dual-axis chart permits you to 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.

Finest Use Circumstances for This Kind of Chart

A dual-axis chart makes it simple to see relationships between completely different knowledge units. They will additionally assist with evaluating developments.

For instance, the chart above reveals what number of new prospects this firm brings in every month. It additionally reveals 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 use dual-axis charts to match:

• Worth and quantity of your merchandise.
• Income and models bought.
• Gross sales and revenue margin.
• Particular person gross sales efficiency.

Design Finest Practices for Twin-Axis Charts

• Use the y-axis on the left facet for the first variable as a result of brains naturally look left first.
• Use completely different graphing kinds for instance 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 house between the x-axis and the road is stuffed with a colour or sample. It’s helpful for displaying part-to-whole relations, like displaying particular person gross sales reps’ contributions to complete gross sales for a yr. It helps you analyze each general and particular person pattern info.

Finest Use Circumstances for These Varieties of Charts

Space charts assist present adjustments over time. They work greatest for large variations between knowledge units and assist visualize large developments.

For instance, the chart above reveals 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 larger the variety of subscribers is than some other group.

These charts make the scale of a bunch and the way teams relate to one another extra visually essential than knowledge adjustments over time.

Space graphs may also help your corporation to:

• Visualize which product classes or merchandise inside a class are hottest.
• Present key efficiency indicator (KPI) objectives vs. outcomes.
• Spot and analyze business developments.

Design Finest 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 litter.
• Manage extremely variable knowledge on the prime of the chart to make it simple to learn.

4. Stacked Bar Chart

Use this chart to match many various objects and present the composition of every merchandise you’re evaluating.

Finest Use Circumstances 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 laborious to see. The chart above helps stakeholders see these two lead varieties from a single standpoint — when a lead adjustments from MQL to SQL.

Stacked bar charts are glorious for advertising and marketing. They make it easy so as to add lots of knowledge on a single chart or to make a degree with restricted house.

These graphs can present a number of takeaways, in order that they’re additionally tremendous for quarterly conferences when you’ve gotten quite a bit to say however not lots 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 lots of info without delay, however additionally they make it simple to give attention to one stack at a time or transfer knowledge as wanted.

You can too use these charts to:

• Present the frequency of survey responses.
• Establish outliers in historic knowledge.
• Examine part of a method to its efficiency as an entire.

Design Finest Practices for Stacked Bar Graphs

• Finest used for instance part-to-whole relationships.
• Use contrasting colours for higher readability.
• Make the chart scale massive sufficient to view group sizes in relation to 1 one other.

5. Mekko Chart

Often known as a Marimekko chart, the sort of graph can examine values, measure every one’s composition, and present knowledge distribution throughout every one.

It is much like a stacked bar, besides the Mekko’s x-axis can seize one other dimension of your values — as a substitute of time development, like column charts typically do. Within the graphic under, the x-axis compares the cities to 1 one other.

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Finest Use Circumstances for This Kind of Chart

You should use a Mekko chart to point out development, market share, or competitor evaluation.

For instance, the Mekko chart above reveals the market share of asset managers grouped by location and the worth of their belongings. This chart clarifies which companies handle essentially the most belongings in numerous 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 varieties 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 circumstances 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 Finest Practices for Mekko Charts

• Differ your bar heights if the portion dimension is a vital level of comparability.
• Do not embody too many composite values inside every bar. Contemplate reevaluating your presentation in case you have lots of knowledge.
• Order your bars from left to proper in such a means that exposes a related pattern or message.

6. Pie Chart

A pie chart reveals 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%.

Finest Use Circumstances for This Kind of Chart

The picture above reveals one other instance of consumers by function within the firm.

The bar graph instance reveals you that there are extra particular person contributors than some other function. However this pie chart makes it clear that they make up over 50% of buyer roles.

Pie charts make it simple to see a piece in relation to the entire, so they’re good for displaying:

• Buyer personas in relation to all prospects.
• Income out of your hottest merchandise or product varieties in relation to all product gross sales.
• % of complete revenue from completely different retailer areas.

Design Finest Practices for Pie Charts

• Do not illustrate too many classes to make sure differentiation between slices.
• Make sure that the slice values add as much as 100%.
• Order slices in line with their dimension.

7. Scatter Plot Chart

A scatter plot or scattergram chart will present the connection between two completely different variables or reveal distribution developments.

Use this chart when there are a lot of completely different knowledge factors, and also you need to spotlight similarities within the knowledge set. That is helpful when on the lookout for outliers or understanding your knowledge’s distribution.

Finest Use Circumstances for These Varieties of Charts

Scatter plots are useful in conditions the place you’ve gotten an excessive amount of knowledge to see a sample shortly. They’re greatest if you use them to point out relationships between two massive knowledge units.

Within the instance above, this chart reveals how buyer happiness pertains to the time it takes for them to get a response.

Any such graph makes it simple to match two knowledge units. Use circumstances may embody:

• Employment and manufacturing output.
• Retail gross sales and inflation.
• Customer numbers and outside temperature.
• Gross sales development and tax legal guidelines.

Strive to decide on two knowledge units that have already got a optimistic or detrimental relationship. That mentioned, the sort of graph may make it simpler to see knowledge that falls exterior of regular patterns.

Design Finest Practices for Scatter Plots

• Embody extra variables, like completely different sizes, to include extra knowledge.
• Begin the y-axis at 0 to symbolize knowledge precisely.
• For those who use pattern strains, solely use a most of two to make your plot simple to know.

8. Bubble Chart

A bubble chart is much like a scatter plot in that it may possibly present distribution or relationship. There’s a third knowledge set proven by the scale of the bubble or circle.

Finest Use Circumstances for This Kind of Chart

Within the instance above, the variety of hours spent on-line is not simply in comparison with the person’s age, as it might be on a scatter plot chart.

As an alternative, it’s also possible to see how the gender of the person impacts time spent on-line.

This makes bubble charts helpful for seeing the rise or fall of developments over time. It additionally allows you to add an alternative choice if you’re making an attempt to know relationships between completely different segments or classes.

For instance, if you wish to launch a brand new product, this chart may show you how to shortly see your new product’s value, danger, and worth. This may also help you focus your energies on a low-risk new product with a excessive potential return.

You can too use bubble charts for:

• High gross sales by month and placement.
• Buyer satisfaction surveys.
• Retailer efficiency monitoring.
• Advertising marketing campaign opinions.

Design Finest Practices for Bubble Charts

• Scale bubbles in line 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 adjustments with intermediate values — both optimistic or detrimental — and ends in a ultimate worth.

Use this chart to disclose the composition of a quantity. An instance of this could be to showcase how completely different departments affect general firm income and result in a particular revenue quantity.

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Finest Use Circumstances for This Kind of Chart

A majority of these charts make it simpler to know how inner and exterior components affect 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 may also help visualize adjustments in new, present, and free trial customers or adjustments by person phase.

You may additionally need to strive a waterfall chart to point out:

• Adjustments in income or revenue over time.
• Stock audits.
• Worker staffing opinions.

Design Finest 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 reveals a collection of steps and the completion charge for every step. Use the sort of chart to trace the gross sales course of or the conversion charge throughout a collection of pages or steps.

Finest Use Circumstances 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 a lot of different methods to make use of this versatile chart.

You probably have a minimum of 4 levels of sequential knowledge, this chart may also help you simply see what inputs or outputs affect the ultimate outcomes.

For instance, a funnel chart may also help you see easy methods to enhance your purchaser journey or purchasing cart workflow. It is because it may possibly assist pinpoint main drop-off factors.

Different stellar choices for these kind of 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 Finest Practices for Funnel Charts

• Scale the scale of every part to precisely replicate the scale of the information set.
• Use contrasting colours or one colour in graduated hues, from darkest to lightest, as the scale of the funnel decreases.

11. Warmth Map

A warmth map reveals the connection between two objects and gives score info, resembling excessive to low or poor to glorious. This chart shows the score info utilizing various colours or saturation.

Finest Use Circumstances for Warmth Maps

Within the instance above, the darker the shade of inexperienced reveals 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 lots of makes use of for these kind of charts. In truth, many tech corporations use warmth map instruments to gauge person expertise for apps, on-line instruments, and web site design.

One other widespread use for warmth map graphs is location evaluation. For those who’re looking for the fitting location to your new retailer, these maps can provide 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 developments that change shortly, like advert conversions. They will additionally assist with:

• Competitor analysis.
• Buyer sentiment.
• Gross sales outreach.
• Marketing campaign affect.
• Buyer demographics.

Design Finest Practices for Warmth Map

• Use a fundamental and clear map define to keep away from distracting from the information.
• Use a single colour in various shades to point out adjustments 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 completely different duties accomplished over a time period.

Gantt charting is among the most important instruments for mission managers. It brings all the finished and uncompleted duties into one place and tracks the progress of every.

Whereas the left facet of the chart shows all of the duties, the fitting facet reveals the progress and schedule for every of those duties.

This chart kind permits you to:

• Break tasks into duties.
• Monitor the beginning and finish of the duties.
• Set essential occasions, conferences, and bulletins.
• Assign duties to the staff and people.

Finest Use Circumstances for This Kind of Chart

Gantt charts are excellent for analyzing, street mapping, and monitoring progress over a time period.

The chart above divides the completely 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 mission administration groups construct long-term methods.

One of the best half? You may convey the stakeholders, mission staff, and managers to a single place.

You should use Gantt charts in numerous duties, together with:

• Monitoring worker information as a human useful resource.
• Monitoring gross sales leads in a gross sales course of.
• Plan and monitor development work.

Design Finest Practices for Gantt Charts

• Use similar colours for the same group of actions.
• Ensure that to label the duty dependencies to map mission 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 information within the chart is nested within the type of rectangles and sub-rectangles. Every of those rectangles and sub-rectangles has completely different dimensions and plot colours that are assigned w.r.t to the quantitative knowledge.

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Finest Use Circumstances for This Kind of Chart

The treemap chart compares the completely different merchandise in a class or sub-category. Within the diagram above, the merchandise are divided by income.

Have 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 size 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 completely different sub-groups.

This type of mapping chart is greatest used:

• When there are a whole lot of classes and even deeper layers of sub-categories. For instance, Complete votes solid w.r.t. States.
• To review the information with respect to solely two quantitative values.
• To match the efficiency of merchandise and determine similarities and anomalies inside a single or a number of classes.

Design Finest Practices for Treemaps

• Use contrasting and brilliant colours to spotlight variations between sub-categories.
• Manage the rectangles so as of bigger space to smaller in dimension (i.e., from prime to backside).
• Mark down every rectangle with textual content or numbers to make it simple to learn.

The 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 belongings can get overwhelming. What must you be monitoring? What issues most?

How do you visualize and analyze the information so you may extract insights and actionable info?

1. Establish your objectives for presenting the information.

Do you need to persuade or make clear a degree? Are you making an attempt to visualise knowledge that helped you clear up an issue? Or are you making an attempt to speak a change that is taking place?

A chart or graph may also help you examine completely different values, perceive how completely different components affect the entire, or analyze developments. Charts and graphs will also be helpful for recognizing knowledge that veers away from what you’re used to or show you how to see relationships between teams.

Make clear your objectives, then use them to information your chart choice.

2. Determine what knowledge you could obtain your objective.

Several types of charts and graphs use completely different sorts of information. Graphs often symbolize numerical knowledge, whereas charts are visible representations of information that will or could not use numbers.

So, whereas all graphs are a sort of chart, not all charts are graphs. For those who do not have already got the type of knowledge you want, you may must spend a while placing your knowledge collectively earlier than constructing your chart.

3. Collect your knowledge.

Most companies acquire numerical knowledge often, however you could must put in some further time to gather the fitting knowledge to your chart. In addition to quantitative knowledge instruments that measure site visitors, income, and different person knowledge, you may want some qualitative knowledge.

These are another methods you may collect knowledge to your knowledge visualization:

• Interviews 
• Quizzes and surveys
• Buyer opinions
• Reviewing buyer paperwork and information
• Neighborhood boards

4. Choose the fitting kind of graph or chart.

Selecting the mistaken visible assist or defaulting to the commonest kind of information visualization may confuse your viewer or result in mistaken knowledge interpretation.

However a chart is just helpful to you and your corporation if it communicates your level clearly and successfully.

Ask your self the questions under to assist discover the fitting chart or graph kind.

Obtain the Excel templates talked about within the video right here.

5 Inquiries to Ask When Deciding Which Kind of Chart to Use

1. Do you need to examine values?

Charts and graphs are excellent for evaluating one or many worth units, and so they can simply present the high and low values within the knowledge units. To create a comparability chart, use these kind of graphs:

• Column
• Mekko
• Bar
• Pie
• Line
• Scatter plot
• Bullet

2. Do you need to present the composition of one thing?

Use the sort of chart to point out how particular person components make up the entire of one thing, just like the gadget kind used for cell guests to your web site or complete 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 show you how to to know outliers, the conventional 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 interested by analyzing developments in your knowledge set?

If you’d like extra details about how an information set carried out throughout a particular time, there are particular chart varieties that do extraordinarily nicely.

It is best 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 various variables. You could possibly use this to point out how one thing positively impacts, has no impact, or negatively impacts one other variable.

When making an attempt to ascertain the connection between issues, use these charts:

Featured Useful resource: The Marketer’s Information to Information Visualization

Obtain this free knowledge visualization information to be taught which graphs to make use of in your advertising and marketing, displays, or mission — and easy methods to use them successfully.

Put these new varieties of charts and graphs into motion.

Now that you have chosen the perfect graph or chart to your mission, 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 essential, preserve making time to be taught.

Editor’s notice: This publish was initially revealed in November 2020 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.