1 Learn the concept
To understand each chart and how it can be used, here is an overview of fourteen common types. Knowing the options helps you pick the one that fits your data and message. This lesson groups them by purpose and shows when each works best.
2 See it in action
- Comparison: bar, column, grouped bar and stacked bar.
- Trend: line, area and sparkline.
- Distribution: histogram, box plot and scatter plot.
- Composition and others: pie, donut, heat map, treemap and table.
Worked example
Matching three datasets
Revenue by month: line chart.
Sales by region: bar chart.
Ad spend versus leads by campaign: scatter plot.
Check: if the chart needs a long explanation, try a simpler one.
3 Study an example
Example scenario
A report mixes bar, line and table views: a bar chart ranks channels, a line chart shows the trend and a table lists exact figures for people who want detail.
4 Apply it and download
- Match each chart type to a question.
- Create three of them with sample data.
- Note which worked best.
Worksheet Data cleaning checklist and report templateOpen, print or save as PDF