Types of Charts in Excel

Excel charts can be used to convert raw data into visual stories. It doesn’t matter whether you need to create a report, are dealing with performance tracking, or trend analysis; it could be a difference between picking the appropriate chart and making your audience interpret the information in the desired way. 

Excel has a great number of charts, each of which serves to present various sides of your data. This blog will discuss the most common types of charts in Excel, how to create them and the type of chart you should implement with your data.

Definition of Chart

Before knowing about different types of chart it is important to know what is the definition of a chart. In Excel, a chart is a visual representation of data used to highlight trends, patterns and relationships within a dataset. Charts transform raw numbers into graphical elements which makes complex information easier to understand, compare and analyze.

Why use charts in Excel

Charts in Excel are essential tools which help to simplify complex data and makes it easy to analyze and interpret. Here is why use charts in Excel:

• Simplifies complex data
• Supports data-driven decisions
• Boosts Engagement
• Improves data comparison
• Highlights trends and patterns

Characteristics of good chart in Excel

A good chart in Excel is one which is clear, simple and represents data accurately. A good chart should avoid clutters and focus on key insights and highlights important trends. Chart becomes visually appealing after consistent formatting, effective use of colors and eligible text and communicates information effectively to the viewer.

Different Chart Types in Excel

Excel has a great diversity of the types of charts and each chart can be applied to a particular type of data. There are charts that are ideal in showing trends, there are those that are ideal in showing comparisons and others that are ideal in showing proportions. We will take a tour of the most frequently used types of charts in Excel and know how to utilize them.

Create Your Dataset

You must first have a proper set of data in Excel before you can make a chart. The following is a basic representation of sales data in five months:

Months	Sales
January	5000
February	6200
March	7400
April	5500
May	6600

After defining your data, you will be able to start the creation of various kinds of charts to represent the trends, comparisons, and patterns inside.

1. Line Chart

One of the common charts that is widely used in Excel is the Line Chart. It is best to demonstrate the trends with time since it ties the data points to a straight line. When you would like to trace the changes in a variable, such as sales, temperature, or stock prices, in a certain period of time, a line chart is the tool you want to use.

Example

The line chart would be the appropriate chart in the above dataset to be able to identify the change in sales between January and May. It is easy to identify an upward or downward trend and any abrupt variation.

2. Bar Chart

Another type of a chart is a Bar Chart. In comparison to the line chart, the bar charts demonstrate data using horizontal bars and this makes them the best in the comparison of various categories. The length of every bar is an indication of the value of the category it represents.

Example

When you are comparing sales in your various products or regions, it would be easy to observe which product or region had the highest or the lowest value using a bar chart.

3. Column Chart

This chart is also similar to the bar chart except that it has vertical bars rather than horizontal bars. This type of chart is the most appropriate where data change over time is to be depicted or when comparing data in different categories.

Example

Suppose you want to compare the month to month sales. A column chart would also vividly show the sales of every month represented by separate bars easy to distinguish the patterns and trends.

 4. Area Chart

An Area Chart is similar to a line chart except that the area under the line is filled up with color. This chart type emphasizes the size of data over a period of time, and thus it is particularly helpful to demonstrate cumulative totals.

Example

When you want to know the amount of sales made in one or more months, an area chart would not only display the trend but also the total volume of sales allowing you to know how much the data has increased or decreased over a period of time.

5. Pie Chart

The Pie Chart is an older and visual chart that is used to depict components of a whole. The pie charts are each a category and the area of each piece is its size relative to the whole dataset.

Example

To demonstrate how various products made to the total sales within a particular month, a pie chart will easily demonstrate the percentage contribution of each product to the total sales.

6. Surface Chart

Surface Chart is another more complex form of chart, which is applied to analyze the relationships between two or more variables, which are complex. It is a 3D graph that assist you in visualizing trends, peaks and saddles among various datasets.

Example

When you are drawing an analysis of data such as product performance in various areas, where variables such as sales volume and customer satisfaction are considered, a surface graph can be used to sketch how these variables interrelate with other variables.

7. XY Plots (Scatter)

A XY Plot or Scatter Chart is used to show the relationship between two continuous variables. It is used to identify correlation, clusters or outliers in your data.

Example

If you want to analyze the relationship between advertising spend and sales, a scatter chart can help you to analyze two variables correlated.

8. Stock chart

This type of chart is designed specifically to display stock price movements over time. It shows the high, low, open and close prices for each period.

Example

If you are tracking the performance for a particular stock, these types of charts will display the fluctuation in price over time.

9.Treemap

This chart used nested rectangles to represent hierarchical data. The size of each rectangle refers to value and color represents another variable.

Example

This can be used to display market share data for different companies, where each company is represented by a rectangle and size reflects its share of the market.

10. Sun Burst Chart

This chart is a variation of the pie chart but instead of a flat circle, it shows concentric rings which represent hierarchical data.

Example

A solar burst chart can help you to show a company’s hierarchical structure by illustrating how different departments contribute to the overall organization.

11. Box and whisker chart

This chart is also known as a box plot and used to display the distribution of data based on five summary statistics which includes minimum, first quartile, median, third quartile and maximum.

Example

If you’re analyzing the distribution of sales across different regions, a box plot can help to spread and identify any outliers.

12. Waterfall chart

A Waterfall Chart is used to display how an initial value is affected by a series of positive and negative values, leading to a final result. This is useful for showing financial data, such as profits or expenses.

Example

If you’re analyzing how different expenses affect a company’s net profit, a waterfall chart will visually demonstrate each increase or decrease leading to the final outcome.

13. Combo chart

A Combo Chart combines two or more chart types into a single chart. It’s useful when you want to compare different types of data, such as quantities and percentages.

Example

If you’re comparing sales and profit margins over time, you could use a combo chart to display sales as columns and profit margins as a line, making it easier to see the relationship between them.

Other types of charts

There are some types of charts which are not in-built in Excel but one can manually make them. Here are some of these charts:

1. Speedometer Chart

This type of chart is used to visualize progress towards a target. It is a circular chart which looks like a speedometer and it is often used in dashboards.

2. Progress Chart

This chart shows how much progress has been done towards a specific goal. It is best suited for measuring performance percentage. 

3. Population Pyramid Chart

This chart is often used in demographics and research. It is used to display age and gender distribution within the population.

4. Bullet Chart

This type of chart is a variation of bar chart and used to visualize progress toward a goal. This is often used in business reporting which helps to show performance against target metrics.

Conclusion

Excel charts come in very handy to transform the raw data into easily understandable visual representations. You can use a line chart to show trends, a pie chart to demonstrate proportions, and a column chart to compare categories: there is a type of chart that fits any scenario.

You can be able to convey your data by having knowledge of the kinds of charts in excel and when to utilize a chart. Select an appropriate chart to your data, and your audience will be able to understand the most important issues easier.