Excel Charts and Graphs

Become a Pro at Excel Charts 📈 📊 📉

Charts are a key piece of functionality in excel…

and I use one in almost all of my presentations.

But there are tons of different charts to use…which one is right for when?

Let’s solve all of that with todays post:

1. 📈 Line chart → helps you understand trends over time, requires 2 or more data pointsLine chart → can show 1 or multiple series.I like to utilize 2 series when I’m trying to understand the intersection (like with a break even anaysis)

2. 📊Bar charts → helps you understand trends over time.Bar chart → single seriesStacked bar chart → multiple series grouped togetherClustered bar chart → multiple series side by side Horizontal → alternate orientation
   
3. 🟡Pie chart → helps you understand the distribution between multiple categoriesPie Chart → shows the split / distribution between multiple categoriesDonut → shows the % completion. This is in essence a hollow pie chart (my favorite for budget vs actuals)

4. Area chart → highlights magnitude of change by shading the bottom
   
5. Scatter charts → often used to find correlations and patterns in the dataScatter Chart → displays the relationship between 2 numerical variables
   
6. Waterfall chart → Helps in understanding the cumulative effect of sequentially introduced positive or negative valuesThis is especially relevant when showcasing MRR and ARR
   
7. Box & Whisker → Shows distribution of data into quartiles, highlighting the mean and outliers.
   
8. Radar charts → displays multivariate data in the form of a two-dimensional chart with three or more quantitative variables.

9. Bubble Chart → variation of the scatter chart, adding a third dimension using the size of the dots.

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Way to go - now you’re an excel charts pro!

Don’t forget that there is also a lot more to be said about how to structure your data, and how to design your charts to captivate your audience 🤩