The Data Visualisation Catalogue Blog




Chart Selection Guide

On the site’s Instagram, there’s a series of posts that each list with icons, the chart types recommended based on what you can communicate or analyse with them. In total, there were 15 posts created, each with a particular category and color theme.

Essentially, these posts were an updated, Instagram version of the ‘What do you want to show’ page found here on the site, but with some new types of charts covered. The Instagram post didn’t provide a comprehensive list of charts and categories, but they were a decent introductory guide for selecting a chart for your needs.

However, the issue with Instagram posts is that everything is segmented into parts. Because of this, I thought it would be a good idea to organise all the icons and their categories into a single page.

Distribution

Charts that display frequency in the data and/or how spread out over an interval the data values are. Often, these chart types are useful for generating shapes or patterns that provide insight into the kind of distribution present in the dataset.

communicate

Barcode Plot

communicate

Bean Plot

communicate

Bee Swarm Box Plot

communicate

Box Plot

communicate

Box-Percentile Plot

communicate

Density Plot

communicate

Dot Distribution Plot

communicate

HDR Box Plot

communicate

Histogram

communicate

Notched Box Plot

communicate

Population Pyramid

communicate

Q-Q Plot

chart type

Ridgeline Plot

chart type

Sina Plots

chart type

Stem & Leaf Plot

chart type

Vase Plot

chart type

Violin Plot

Comparisons

Charts that help communicate the differences or similarities between values in a dataset. Often, these charts are used to make comparisons across categories and/or for communicating the ranking between categories.

chart type

Bar Chart

chart type

Bullet Graph

chart type

Column Chart

chart type

Dot Graph

chart type

Grouped Bar Chart

chart type

Lollipop Chart

chart type

Pictogram Chart

chart type

Radial Column Chart

chart type

Side by Side Bar Chart

chart type

Slopegraph

chart type

Stacked Bar Chart

chart type

Unit Chart

Data Over Time

Charts typically used to show data changing over a time period to communicate or analyze trends and patterns in a dataset. The more diagrammatic editions below, such as a Timeline or Gantt Chart are more used to communicate the sequencing of events.

Area Graph

Connected Scatterplot

Control Chart

Gantt Chart

Heatmap

Horizon Plot

Line Graph

Run Chart

Spiral Plot

Stacked Area Graph

Streamgraph

Timeline

Proportions

Charts that use area size to communicate differences or similarities. This can be to communicate magnitude, flow, to compare values, or to show a parts-to-a-whole relationship.

Bubble Chart

Bubble Map

Circle Packing

Demers Cartogram

Dorling Map

Marimekko Chart

Parallel Sets

Pie Chart

Proportional Area Chart

Sankey Diagram

Treemap

Unit Chart (Area)

Geographical

Charts used to communicate data related to geographical regions.

Bubble Map

Cartogram

Choropleth Map

Connection Map

Demer Cartogram

Dorling Map

Dot Map

Flow Map

Isochrone Map

Non-contiguous Cartogram

Tile Grid Map

Connections

Charts used to communicate or analyse how things are connected, the structure of networks, or the relationships contained within networks.

Arc Diagram

Circular Tree Diagram

Connection Map

Hive Plot

Network Diagram

Non-ribbon Chord Diagram

Financial

Charts used to analyse financial data, to detect and predict trends in a market.

Candlestick Chart

Kagi Chart

OHLC Chart

Point & Figure Chart

Renko Chart

Waterfall Chart

Hierarchy

Charts used to communicate and/or analyse how things are ranked and ordered together in an organisation or system.

Circular Tree Diagram

Circular Treemap

Icicle Chart

Sunburst Diagram

Tree Diagram

Treemap

Parts-to-a-whole

Charts used to show proportions but in a parts-to-a-whole relationship. So when the goal is to show how the parts of a variable relate to a total. These charts can also be useful in showing how the data is divided up.

100% Stacked Bar Chart

Donut Chart

Marimekko Chart

Pie Chart

Treemap

Waffle Chart

Flow

Charts used to communicate the movement or flow of entities or to communicate how a process or system works.

Alluvial Diagram

Flow Diagram

Flow Map

Parallel Sets

Sankey Diagram

Ranges

Charts used to display the variations between the upper and lower limits on a scale.

Barbell Plot

Gantt Chart

Ranged Area Graph

Span Chart

Correlations

Charts used for finding and/or showing the correlation (when one variable has an effect on another) between two or three variables.

Bubble Chart

Correlation Matrix

Heatmap

Scatterplot

Multi-variable Analysis

Charts used to find or show relationships or patterns between many different variables. Also known as “multi-variate analysis” or “multi-dimensional analysis”.

Chernoff Faces

Parallel Coordinates

Radar Chart

Ternary Graph

Uncertainty & Error

Charts used to communicate and/or analyse the range of error or uncertainty within a dataset.

Area Bands

Confidence Strips

Error Bars

Graded Error Bars

Showing Change

Charts that are useful for show the amount of change between two points.

Barbell Plot

Change Bar Chart

Slopegraph

Overall, these are broad categories with many charts having some overlap between these listed categories. Also, some chart types missing from this list were designed with very specific usage.

You can find more information on some of these chart types on the homepage.

Chart Types Data Visualization Learning & Resources

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Top 10 Charts in 2020

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