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Home > Blog > Microsoft Excel

Custom Excel Charts: Expressing Your Data Creatively

Custom Excel Charts is one of the popular visualization tools among professionals and small business owners.custom excel charts

The easy-to-use visualization tool was developed by Microsoft for:

  • Windows
  • macOS
  • Android
  • iOS

Excel comes with calculation capabilities, pivot tables, charts, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications.

Besides, it forms part of the Microsoft Office suite.

The spreadsheet tool has the basic features you’ll find in all apps, including Google Sheets. It’s made up of cells arranged in numbered rows and letter-named columns.

Also, the application has an extensive library of functions to answer statistical, engineering, and financial queries. Excel can display data as graphs, maps, charts, and tables.

However, it lacks custom charts for specialized exercises, such as survey visualization.

You don’t have to discard your Excel in favor of other expensive data visualization instruments. You can supercharge it with a particular add-in to access ready-made custom charts and graphs.

Table of Content:

  1. Custom Excel Charts
  2. Understanding Custom Charts in Excel
  3. Importance of Charts for Data Analysis in Excel
    1. Stacked Waterfall Chart
    2. Radar Chart
    3. Sunburst Graph
    4. Likert Scale Graph
    5. Pyramid Chart (aka Funnel Chart)
  4. Excel Custom Charts Integration: Step-by-Step Guide
  5. Wrap Up

Custom Excel Charts

Before diving right into the how-to guide, we’ll address the following question: what is a custom chart?

Understanding Custom Charts in Excel

Definition: A Custom chart is a visual illustration you can use as a backdrop for your data stories.

The first step to creating compelling custom Excel charts is understanding how our perception works.

Contrary to what you may have learned, perceiving an image is complex and cannot be explained using a video camera analogy.

In his book, The Functional Art, Alberto Cairo, argues that illusion plays a significant role in how we see the world. For instance, if you’re looking at a screen, it seems like everything is within a 180-degree angle.

Charts and graphs reinforce Cairo’s argument by morphing large and bulky data organized in tables into emotionally appealing visual content.

Some of the custom charts you’ve got to try include:

  • Stacked Waterfall Chart
  • Radar Chart
  • Sunburst Chart
  • Likert Scale Chart
  • Funnel Charts
  • Area Chart

In the coming section, we’ll address the importance of charts for data analysis in Excel.

Importance of Charts for Data Analysis in Excel

A chart can help you bring hidden insights to light in an easier-to-interpret way than blocks of text by visually showing the causal relationships, patterns, and trends, including through techniques like Waterfall analysis.

Besides, it’s a much better approach than displaying lists or tables of numbers that force your audience to process data to determine hidden trends, patterns, and relationships.

Technology has made it easier for you to separate noise from signals in your data. In many cases, it has automated the generation of chord diagrams and other charts and graphs for your data stories.

For instance, a Bar Chart that shows how costs vary between two similar factories can help management quickly uncover the underlying problem and deal with it.

One of the significant merits of using custom Excel Charts, such as Circular Chart in Excel, is that they present data insights in a visually interesting way to the audience. A table may have exactly as much information as a graph, but it is more monotonous and time-consuming for your audience.

Conversely, a chart provides a straightforward way for you to craft compelling data stories.

Let’s dive into the list of custom Excel charts you’ve got to try this year.

Stacked Waterfall Chart

A Stacked Waterfall Chart is a visualization that displays the cumulative impact of sequential positive and negative values using stacked bars. Each step is represented by a stacked bar, where the height of the bar indicates the total cumulative value at that point.

Here is cash flow data for a certain business. Let’s create a Chart of this data:

Stacks Bridges Amount
Sales Mobiles 20025
Sales Tablets 9746
Sales PCs 7095
Services Mobiles 3959
Services Tablets 6650
Services PCs 9077
Total Revenue Mobiles 23984
Total Revenue Tablets 16396
Total Revenue PCs 16172
Marketing Mobiles -4630
Marketing Tablets -2360
Marketing PCs -2650
Transportation Cost Mobiles -2150
Transportation Cost Tablets -935
Transportation Cost PCs -965
Salaries Mobiles -3360
Salaries Tablets -2340
Salaries PCs -1130
Wages Mobiles -3510
Wages Tablets -2390
Wages PCs -930
Operating Cost Mobiles -640
Operating Cost Tablets -3700
Operating Cost PCs -1240
Taxes Mobiles -4180
Taxes Tablets -1800
Taxes PCs -5460
Net Income Mobiles 5514
Net Income Tablets 2871
Net Income PCs 3797
Stacked Waterfall Chart in Excel

Radar Chart

A Radar Chart is a two-dimensional visualization design you can use to visualize two or more key data points. You can compare the performance of key metrics using the chart. A Radar Chart is also called a Radar Graph.

Check out the table below. Can you provide key insights into the table below?

Flavors Quarters Sales
Strawberry Q1 336
Strawberry Q2 562
Strawberry Q3 629
Strawberry Q4 138
Vanilla Q1 912
Vanilla Q2 578
Vanilla Q3 297
Vanilla Q4 194
Mango Q1 203
Mango Q2 916
Mango Q3 400
Mango Q4 196

Note the difference after visualizing the data table above.

radar chart using custom excel charts

Vanilla was the best-performing ice cream flavor in Q3. On the other hand, the mango flavor performed well in Q2.

Sunburst Chart

A Sunburst Chart shares a resemblance with a Pie Graph. The chart is best suited for visualizing hierarchical data. Each hierarchy is depicted by a ring in the chart.

Check out the table below. Can you provide key insights into the table below?

Pet Shelter Pet Category Pet Type No. of Adoption
Pet Shelter Fish Catfish 50
Pet Shelter Fish Molly 33
Pet Shelter Fish Betta 25
Pet Shelter Mammal Dogs 90
Pet Shelter Mammal Cats 60
Pet Shelter Mammal Mice 30
Pet Shelter Birds Lovebirds 33

Note the difference after visualizing the data table above.

sunburst chart using custom excel charts

The mammals category accounts for a huge chunk of animals in the pet shelter, followed by fish and birds.

In the mammals category, dogs account for the largest population, closely followed by cats.

Likert Scale Graph

A Likert Scale Chart is a one-dimensional visualization design you can leverage to visualize the respondents’ attitudes and opinions.

This psychometric scale comes in handy if your goal is to understand the views and perspectives of your brand.

Check out the table below. Can you provide key insights into the table below?

Questions Scale Responses
How do you rate our cleaning staff’s behavior? 1 324
How do you rate our cleaning staff’s behavior? 2 176
How do you rate our cleaning staff’s behavior? 3 230
How do you rate our cleaning services? 1 138
How do you rate our cleaning services? 2 186
How do you rate our cleaning services? 3 176
Will you recommend our services in your circle? 1 0
Will you recommend our services in your circle? 2 138
Will you recommend our services in your circle? 3 186

Note the difference after visualizing the data table above.

Likert Scale Chart using custom excel charts

Pyramid Chart (aka Funnel Chart)

A Pyramid Chart (aka Funnel Chart) is a visualization design that displays the sales pipeline.

The graph is named after its shape, which starts with a broad head and ends with a narrow one. The number of prospects at each stage is depicted by the width.

Let’s say you have the sales pipeline data below for a store.

Stages Total Intake
Initial contact 100000
Lead qualification 69000
Product demo 45000
Proposal 23000
Evaluation 11000
Closing 6000

 Note the difference after visualizing the data table above.

Funnel Chart using custom excel charts

In the ensuing section, we’ll take you through customized charts in Excel.

Excel Custom Charts Integration: Step-by-Step Guide

Excel is one of the most used visualization instruments. However, the spreadsheet application lacks ready-made custom Excel Charts, such as Funnel charts, tornado charts, and Radar Charts.

We’re not advising you to do away with Excel in favor of other expensive tools.

This is because there’s an amazingly affordable visualization tool that comes as an add-in you can easily install in Excel to access insightful and ready-to-go custom Excel charts. The tool is called ChartExpo.

So, what is ChartExpo?

ChartExpo is an add-in you can easily install in your Excel without needing tutorials.

With many ready-to-go and insightful charts, graphs, and maps, ChartExpo turns your complex, raw data into easy-to-interpret and visually appealing custom charts that tell data stories in real time.

More benefits

  • ChartExpo is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) product, which makes it extremely light. You have a 100% guarantee that your Excel won’t be slowed down.
  • You can export your charts in JPEG, PDF, SVG, and PNG formats.
  • ChartExpo add-in is only $10 a month after the end of the trial period.

Example

This section will use a Sentiment Trend Chart to visualize the survey data below.

You don’t want to miss this if your goal is to take your data storytelling to the next level.

Weeks Rolex Omega
Week-1 1,005 1087
Week-2 667 620
Week-3 1,421 1145
Week-4 1091 1061
Week-5 1408 1142
Week-6 968 742
  • To install ChartExpo into your Excel, click this link.
  • Open the worksheet and click the Insert button to access the My Apps option.
insert chartexpo in excel
  • Select ChartExpo add-in and click the Insert button.
open chartexpo in excel
  • Once ChartExpo is loaded, you will see a list of charts.
list of charts in excel
  • Look for “Sentiment Trend Chart” in the list of charts.
search sentiment trend chart in excel
  • Select the data in the worksheet and click the Create Chart From Selection button, as shown below.
create sentiment trend chart in excel
  • Check out the final chart.
custom excel graphs

FAQs:

How do charts help the reader?

A chart can help you bring hidden insights to light in an easier-to-interpret way by visually showing the causal relationships, patterns, and trends.

Besides, it’s a much better approach than displaying lists or tables of numbers that force your audience to process data to determine trends and relationships.

What is the benefit of using a color scheme for a chart?

Colors make critical elements stand out.

Besides, they can help you to highlight the most important insights in your data stories.

By using contrasting colors, you can help viewers see the big picture, especially if you’re comparing key data points. Gray color can help you hide less important elements in your charts.

Wrap Up

Excel is one of the popular tools of visualization among professionals and small business owners.

The easy-to-use visualization tool was developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.

The tool comes with calculation capabilities, pivot tables, charts, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications. And it forms part of the Microsoft Office suite.

Excel has the basic features you’ll find in all spreadsheet apps, including Google Sheets. It’s made up of cells arranged in numbered rows and letter-named columns.

Also, the application has an extensive library of functions to answer statistical, engineering, and financial queries. Excel can display data as graphs, maps, charts, and tables.

However, it lacks custom charts for specialized exercises, such as survey data storytelling.

How much did you enjoy this article?

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