“A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Yes, you read that right.
Visual content can help you capture attention and convey information faster. Our brain processes visual content over 60,000 times faster than numbers and text.
A research conducted on more than 100 million Facebook updates and the result shows that Facebook updates with images had 2.3 times more engagement than those without.
Still, the impact of visual content goes beyond social media. A similar research and discovered roughly two-thirds of people understand information better when visual content is used.
You can use various types of charts to help your viewers grasp information faster. Also, they make data stories compelling and persuasive.
Some of the different types of charts we recommend you give a try this 2022 are:
These charts and graphs can help you to understand data quickly. When you show an easy-to-interpret graph, your data story gains clarity and authority.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re comparing sales figures or highlighting a trend.
Excel lacks a huge chunk of the charts we’ve highlighted above, such as Box and Whisker and Multi Axis Line Chart.
Did you know you can access these charts in your Excel by installing a particular add-in? If you did not, keep reading to discover more about this easy-to-use add-in.
In this blog, you’ll learn:
Before jumping into the blog’s core, we’ll address the following question: what is a chart?
Definition: A chart is a visual representation of your data.
Graphs and charts can help bring hidden insights to light by visually showing the causal relationships, patterns, and trends.
Besides, they’re a much better approach than displaying lists or tables of numbers that force your audience to process data and determine trends, patterns, and relationships.
Technology has made it easier for you to separate noise from signals in your data. And in many cases, it has automated the creation of 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.
In the coming section, we’ll take you through the uses of charts in analysis and data storytelling.
Charts and graphs are recommended methods for displaying patterns, trends, and relationships in your data.
The purpose of charts is to display actionable insights into the data that’s bulky and complex to be presented using tables.
However, graphs are not suitable for smaller data samples.
It is imperative to select a chart or graph based on the nature of the data, your overall goals, and the intended audience.
In the coming section, we’ll take you through the different types of charts and graphs and their uses.
Lets discuss 5 different charts and their uses in data storytelling.
A Scatter Plot is a visualization design you can use to highlight insights into the relationships that exist between key data points.
The graph communicates insights using dots within the x and y-axes. The dots appear “scattered”, hence its name.
Use the Scatter Plot Chart to compare two or more key metrics in your data.
Look at the table below.
Products Type | Products | Sales | No. of Orders | In Stock |
Cosmetic | Face Primer | 90 | 10 | 26 |
Cosmetic | Foundation | 70 | 12 | 16 |
Cosmetic | Concealer | 190 | 9 | 13 |
Cosmetic | Blush | 880 | 16 | 21 |
Cosmetic | Highlighter | 900 | 22 | 35 |
Cosmetic | Bronzer | 600 | 23 | 23 |
Cosmetic | Powder | 600 | 42 | 38 |
Cosmetic | Eye Primer | 1300 | 19 | 43 |
Electronics | TVs | 590 | 28 | 32 |
Electronics | Refrigerators | 390 | 11 | 33 |
Electronics | Washing machines | 490 | 41 | 22 |
Electronics | Air Conditioners | 390 | 18 | 40 |
Electronics | Printers | 260 | 17 | 42 |
Electronics | Speakers | 210 | 2 | 19 |
Electronics | Keyboards | 170 | 23 | 34 |
Electronics | E-Readers | 170 | 13 | 25 |
Garments | Mobile Phones | 140 | 27 | 21 |
Garments | Sweater | 110 | 13 | 40 |
Garments | Hoodies | 110 | 12 | 35 |
Garments | T-shirts | 760 | 6 | 35 |
Garments | Jeans | 1500 | 7 | 38 |
Garments | Sweat Shirts | 1000 | 19 | 39 |
Garments | Formal Trousers | 150 | 10 | 28 |
Garments | Polo Shirts | 380 | 14 | 15 |
Notice the difference after visualizing the data using a Scatter Plot.
Insights: There’s no direct relationship between the number of orders and sales in all the products (garments, electronics, and garments).
A Multi-Axis Line Chart (one of the top 5 types of charts and their uses) combines the Line and Area Charts with a secondary axis.
You can easily display insights into two or more key data points.
Check out the table below. Can you provide key insights into the table below?
Month | Laptop | TV | Mobile | Tablet |
Jan | 45 | 60 | 40 | 35 |
Feb | 60 | 80 | 30 | 70 |
Mar | 55 | 65 | 50 | 55 |
Apr | 35 | 70 | 55 | 80 |
May | 55 | 55 | 70 | 55 |
Jun | 75 | 85 | 20 | 90 |
Jul | 60 | 50 | 55 | 70 |
Aug | 40 | 30 | 80 | 35 |
Sep | 50 | 55 | 60 | 40 |
Oct | 80 | 75 | 20 | 60 |
Nov | 30 | 50 | 65 | 55 |
Dec | 25 | 30 | 35 | 50 |
Notice the difference after visualizing the data above.
A Sentiment Trend Chart (one of the top 5 types of charts and their uses) displays the trends and patterns of opinions of the target market.
The visualization design is insightful and easy to read, especially if your goal is to highlight the decline and growth of key variables.
The line in the graph displays the trends and patterns of key variables over a specified period.
Check out the table below. Can you provide key insights into the table below?
Topic | Positive | Negative |
Customer Service | 67 | 33 |
Shipping | 60 | 40 |
Price | 75 | 25 |
Selection | 85 | 15 |
Return Policy | 30 | 70 |
Ordering Process | 75 | 15 |
Communication | 90 | 10 |
Check out the final chart. You can easily point out declining and growing variables in your data.
To access ready-to-go Sentiment Trend Charts, download and install ChartExpo for Excel.
Donut charts are visualization designs you can use to display insights into the proportions of categories present in your raw data.
Each piece of the chart represents the proportion of each category relative to the whole (totals). The graph answers questions about your data like: what are the proportions of the key categories present in your data?
Check out the table below. Can you provide key insights into the table below?
Sports Name | Played |
Football | 60 |
Cricket | 33 |
Hockey | 30 |
Tennis | 15 |
Notice the difference after visualizing the table above.
Football accounts for 43% of the most popular sports worldwide, followed by cricket (24%) and hockey (22%).
A Box and Whisker Plot (one of the top 5 types of charts and their uses) distills your data into averages and quartiles.
Use the Box and Whisker Plot to highlight outliers in your data. The chart displays key variables as quartiles.
You can draw boxes to connect the 1st quartile to the 3rd quartile. In this scenario, the boxes will represent the average values of key metrics understudy.
Whiskers are lines that depict variables outside of the average value. The highest and lowest values can be outliers, depending on the frequency of the occurrence.
The chart is made up of the following components, namely:
Check out the table below. Can you provide key insights into the table below?
Subjects | Male | Female |
Chemistry | 54 | 2 |
Physics | 45 | 5 |
Mathematics | 35 | 15 |
Computer | 36 | 14 |
Chemistry | 38 | 20 |
Physics | 52 | 15 |
Mathematics | 28 | 20 |
Computer | 58 | 15 |
Chemistry | 47 | 12 |
Physics | 30 | 20 |
Mathematics | 41 | 21 |
Computer | 52 | 18 |
Chemistry | 48 | 12 |
Physics | 35 | 15 |
Mathematics | 62 | 8 |
Computer | 56 | 29 |
Chemistry | 27 | 13 |
Physics | 79 | 21 |
Mathematics | 75 | 15 |
Computer | 55 | 25 |
Check out the final chart.
In the coming section, you’ll learn how to create different types of Excel charts.
Excel is one of the most-used visualization instruments. However, the spreadsheet application lacks ready-made top 5 types of charts and their uses, such as Sentiment Trend Charts.
We’re not advising you to do away with Excel in favor of other expensive tools.
And 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 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 excel charts that tell data stories in real time.
More benefits
This section will use Sentiment Trend Charts to visualize the data below.
Topic | Positive | Negative |
Customer Service | 67 | 33 |
Shipping | 60 | 40 |
Price | 75 | 25 |
Selection | 85 | 15 |
Return Policy | 30 | 70 |
Ordering Process | 75 | 15 |
Communication | 90 | 10 |
Bar, Pie, and Line charts are crucial in your visualization strategy because they can help you extract hidden insights into:
These charts are incredibly easy to read and interpret. Besides, you can easily incorporate visualization designs into your data stories for presentation.
Graphs and charts can help bring hidden insights to light in an easy-to-interpret way by visually showing the causal relationships, patterns, and trends.
Besides, they’re a much better approach than displaying lists or tables of numbers that force your audience to process data and determine trends, patterns, and relationships.
Data is new oil. The reason for this is quickly motivate, enhance, and bring out the best in your audience.
While the actual figure fluctuates, the world is thought to produce 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day. Given the amount of data being generated, it is not unexpected that visualization has grown to be such a crucial talent.
Visualization is becoming more and more valuable as organizations and governments work to promote innovation and preserve a competitive advantage.