Which chart should I use?
Start with the question you want the chart to answer. The right shape follows from it.
Four ways charts mislead (and how to avoid them)
- Bars that don't start at zero. A bar's length is the value; cut the axis and small differences look huge.
- Too many slices. More than six slices in a donut is unreadable. Group the small ones as "Other".
- A line through unrelated things. Lines mean "over time". For separate categories, use bars.
- Too many colors. One highlight color for the point that matters reads faster than a rainbow.
Try it with your numbers
Paste your data and switch between chart types to see which tells the story best.