In this world of information overload, data visualization is becoming more and more vital. Data visualization is a wonderful way to communicate information easily with the viewers. Through data visualization, you should make sense of the numbers, facts and measurements. You should present your data the right way. Just visualising your data without knowing what you want to achieve is just a waste.
If you want to reap the benefits of data visualization, you need to know the answers to the following questions:
a) Do you want to compare values?
For comparing one or more than one data sets, you can use charts as it can present the high and low values in the data sets very easily. So, when you want to compare values, you can use any of the below-mentioned graphs.
• Line
• Column
• Bar
• Pie
• Scatter plot
• Bullet
• Mekko
b) Do you want to present the composition of something?
If you want to present the composition of something, you can use the below-mentioned chart type.
• Stacked bar
• Stacked column
• Pie
• Area
• Waterfall
• Mekko
c) Do you want to know about the distribution of data?
For data distribution, here are the most effective chart types you can use.
• Bar
• Column
• Line
• Mekko
• Scatter Plot
d) Do you want to analyze trends?
In order to know how a data set performed within a certain period of time, these charts can be extremely useful.
• Column
• Line
• Dual-Axis Line
e) Do you want to understand the relationship between value sets better?
Relationship charts are useful in presenting relation of one variable to various other variables. When you try to establish a relationship between variables, you can use charts such as
• Line
• Scatter plot
• Bubble
You can understand better the role of each chart by going through the following definitions
Bar graph: Bar graph is one of the simplest ways to display data and is helpful in making a comparison easily. It’s ideal for tracking the total number of customers and revenue during a certain time frame.
Column chart: You can use a column chart to present a comparison of things over a period of time or to make a comparison of different things.
Line graph: To display trends or progress in time series data, line graphs are very appropriate. When your chart is a continuous set of data, you should use a line graph.
Dual axis chart: When you use a dual axis chart, you can plot data using a shared x-axis and two y-axes. You can visualize a correlation using such chart.
Pie chart: Pie charts are used to represent data as parts of a whole. When you limit the number of slices to not more than six, the pie chart becomes more effective. Too many thin slices make it difficult for the audience to visualize.
Area chart: Basically a line chart, in an area chart the space between the line and x-axis is filled with a colour.
Stacked bar chart: If you want to do a comparison between various things and present the composition of each compared thing, the stacked bar chart is very useful.
Mekko chart: Also referred to as marimekko chart, mekko chart can be used for comparing values, measure a composition and show data distribution.
Scatter plot chart: Also known as a scattergram chart, scatter plot chart can display distribution trends or establish a relationship between two different variables.
Bullet graph: Using a bullet graph, you can present progress towards achieving a goal or offer context in the form of performance or rating.
Heat map: When you want to provide rating information or present the relationship between two things, you can use a heat map.
Funnel chart: A funnel chart can be used to measure conversion rate of various pages and track sales process.
