Which chart should I use?

Show change over time: line chart

Use a line when the horizontal axis is time: sales by month, visitors by week. If you have daily data for a whole year, group it by week or month so the line is readable.

Compare categories: bar chart

Use bars to compare products, regions or people. Sort them from biggest to smallest. Use horizontal bars when labels are long.

Show parts of a whole: share chart or stacked bar

Pie and donut charts work only with two to five parts. With more parts, or to compare shares across groups, use a stacked bar instead.

Show one important number: a card

Total revenue, pass rate or tickets closed are best as one big number, often with a small comparison such as change from last month.

Show exact values: a table

When people need to look things up, a sortable, searchable table beats any chart.

Show spread or relationships

A histogram shows how values spread (for example, how many students scored in each band). A scatter plot shows whether two numbers move together.

Common mistakes

Avoid these and your charts will already be better than most.

• 3D charts
• Pie charts with ten slices
• Bar charts whose axis does not start at zero
• Too many colours
• Charts without a clear title saying the point

Quick decision list

Ask what the reader should notice first, then pick the chart that makes it obvious.

• 'It went up or down': line chart
• 'This one is bigger': sorted bar chart
• 'This is a big share': share chart or stacked bar
• 'This number matters': number card
• 'Find a specific row': searchable table

Let DashForge choose

DashForge reads your columns and goal and picks these chart types for you, grouping long daily ranges by month automatically.

When should I avoid a pie chart?

When there are more than five parts or the parts are similar in size.

Bar or column chart?

Same idea. Vertical columns for a few items or time; horizontal bars for many items or long labels.

How many colours should I use?

As few as possible: one main colour and one to highlight.

Should every chart have a title?

Yes, ideally one that states what the chart shows, such as 'Sales fell in March'.