Types of charts 

Charts are graphical representations of data that allow viewers to quickly identify patterns and trends. They are often used in business to illustrate data in an easy-to-understand format, making them useful for decision-making and planning. Charts come in various types, including bar charts, line charts, pie charts, and scatter plots. 

  

Vertical Bar Chart 

 

A Vertical Bar chart uses bars to represent different categories of data and their associated values. The bars are usually vertical and can be compared to each other to show relative values. 

The Vertical Bar of a chart is often used to show differences between groups or to compare values over time. 

 

Horizontal Bar Chart 

A horizontal bar chart is a chart that uses horizontal bars to represent data or information. It is a type of bar chart that is used to compare values across different categories. 

• In comparison with the Vertical bar chart, the positions of its two axes are changed. 

• In Horizontal Bar charts, numerical comparisons between categories are shown as horizontal columns. 
• Horizontal Bar charts are useful for displaying data that has negative values since the length of the bar can extend to the left of the origin. 

 

Line Chart 

A line chart is a type of chart that is used to display data as a series of points connected by straight lines. It is often used to show trends over time or other continuous data.  

• Line charts are useful for showing changes in data over a period of time and can be used to compare multiple sets of data. They are also commonly used in the financial, stock market, and scientific data analysis. 
• Line charts also identify significant events or changes that occur at specific points in time. Also used in Scientific experiments or surveys, such as changes in population or temperature. 

 

Area Chart 

An area chart is similar to a line chart, but the area below the line is filled in with a colour or pattern. 

• It is used to display data that changes over time and can be used to show trends and patterns in the data. An area chart often displays data accumulating over time, such as total sales or population. 

• The filled-in area helps emphasize the magnitude of change over time ad can make it easier to compare different data sets. 

 

Lollipop Chart

A Lollipop Chart is a variation of a bar chart where circles, also known as markers, replace the bars, and a line segment (the “stick”) connects the title to the x-axis. 

• The Lollipop Chart is helpful in showing the comparison of a single value (represented by the marker) to a benchmark (represented by the x-axis).  
• It is helpful when the data is categorical, and it is mainly used for small datasets. 

  

Pie Chart

The Pie chart is a circular statistical graphic divided into slices to illustrate numerical proportions. In a pie chart, the arc length of each piece is proportional to the quantity it represents. 

• Pie charts generally show the proportion of different categories in a whole data set. They are most effective when used to indicate the composition of small data sets and when the data set’s total value is unimportant. 

 

Donut

Donut charts are like pie charts, but they have a hole in the center, allowing additional information to be displayed. Donut charts represent data as a percentage of a whole, where the complete circle represents the whole.  

• Donut charts are often used to display data related to marketing, such as sales by product category, customer demographics, or revenue by region. 
•  They are also commonly used to show budget allocations, where each doughnut segment represents a different budget category. 

 

Scatter Chart

A scatter chart, also known as a scatter plot or scatter diagram, is a type of plot or mathematical diagram using Cartesian coordinates to display values for typically two variables for a data set. 

• Scatter charts are used to observe relationships between variables. The data is displayed as a collection of points, each having the value of one variable determining the position on the horizontal axis and the value of the other variable determining the position on the vertical axis. 
• Scatter charts are helpful in showing the relationship between two continuous variables and are also useful for identifying patterns and outliers in the data. It is often used to indicate the correlation between two variables which can be positive or negative. 

 

Custom Chart

A custom chart is a chart that is created by the user rather than being pre-designed or pre-formatted. Custom charts can be tailored to the user’s specific needs and data. 

• Custom charts can be used for data visualization, business intelligence, research, marketing, and advertisement. 

 

Tree Map

 

Network graph

 

Heat Map Chart

A heatmap chart is a graphical representation of data representing individual values as colours. It is a way of visualizing a data matrix where the personal values are expressed as colours in a 2-dimensional grid. 

• The colours used in a heatmap chart typically range from cool colours, such as blue and green, to warm colours, such as red and yellow, with the coolest colour representing the lowest value and the warmest colour representing the highest value. 

• Heatmap is commonly used in finance, biology, and marketing to visualize data such as stock prices, gene expression levels, and website visitor behaviour. 

 

Map Chart

A map chart is a type of chart that displays data on a map. It represents geographically based data, such as population density, economic activity, or weather patterns. 

• Map charts can be used for demographics, business, climate & weather, and natural resources. 

 

Heat Map

 

Bubble Map

 

Scatter Map

 

Table Chart

A table chart displays data in a grid format with rows and columns. The rows represent individual data points, and the columns represent different categories or attributes of the data. 

• Table charts can be used for data comparison, data organization, Business Intelligence, and research. 

 

Gauge Chart

Gauge charts, called dial charts or speedometer charts, display data using needles as readings on a dial. The value for each needle is read against the coloured data range or chart axis on a gauge chart.  

• This chart’s simplicity of interpretation gives it an edge. It employs a needle to indicate a specific value over the pivot point and divides a scale into segments with different colours to represent different values of the same measure. 
•  To rapidly visualize a data set’s performance about a trend, these colours often represent the data set’s maximum, average, and lowest values.  

 

Stock Chart

A stock chart is a graphical representation of the performance of a stock or a group of stocks over a given period. It displays the changes in the price of a stock over time and is used by businesses that invest in analyzing the performance of their investment and making decisions about buying, selling, or holding it. 

  

• Stock charts typically have a horizontal axis representing time and a vertical axis representing price. 

• The chart also displays other indicators, such as trading volume or technical indicators, which can provide additional information about the stock’s performance.