Chart Types

Alluvial Diagram

The flow chart type is useful for showing changes over time across categories. The geometry is similar to a stacked area chart but with spacing and order changes.

Area Chart

The space between the data and the baseline is filled with a color or a pattern, usually emphasizing counts or percentages for a single variable.

Bar Chart

The old standby. The classic. The bar height or length represents data. The baseline starts at zero.

Bar Chart Race

The standard bar chart is animated to show rankings and change over time. The alternative is a multi-line chart.

Barcode Chart

A compact way to show a distribution, line segments represent individual points along a single axis.

Baseline Chart

It's like a line chart, but it specifically uses a reference point, which becomes the baseline, to compare all the other categories to.

Beeswarm

It emphasizes individual points in a distribution instead of binning them like a histogram.

Box Plot

The classic chart of quartiles, median, minimum, and maximum shows a basic view of distributions.

Bubble Chart

Points are placed like in a scatter plot, but they are sized based on the square root of data values.

Bump Chart

It looks like a line chart. However, the focus is specifically on ranks, usually over time.

Calendar

A familiar, everyday layout to show data over time. It is especially useful to show recurring weekly patterns.

Cartogram

Regions scale based on data instead of preserving geographic area.

Chord Diagram

Show connections between nodes.

Choropleth Map

Regions are colored by a variable. Be careful with your color choices, as they can quickly change what the map shows.

Connected Scatter Plot

A cross between a scatterplot and a time series. Show two variables over time.

Density Plot

Look at distributions under the curve.

Difference Chart

Fill the space between lines to highlight the greater-than and less-than differences over time.

Donut Chart

It is like a pie chart. But with a hole. It looks like a donut. That's why it's called a donut chart.

Dot Density Map

Dots are placed randomly within regions to show the density of populations. The dots and spacing allow for multiple groups to be shown at once.

Dot Map

Each dot represents a data point. Collectively, geographic patterns emerge.

Dot Plot

A generalized form of the scatter plot, the dots can be placed in various coordinate systems.

Dumbbell Chart

Force-Directed Graph

The network's node positions are defined by node size and the connections. Overlap minimized.

Frequency Trails

Area or line chart value axes overlap to fit more in a space and add another visual aspect to the magnitude of peaks. Also known as: ridgeline chart, joyplot.

Gantt Chart

It's a type of bar chart that shows the end and start times. The bars are offset by the former.

Glyph Chart

Symbols are used and various dimensions represent different variables in a dataset.

Grid Map

Instead of using geographic boundaries, same-size cells are used to represent areas to provide equal visual attention to all.

Heatmap

Cells or bins are colored based on data. As with all visualization types that use color as the main visual encoding, choose shades carefully.

Histogram

It looks like a bar chart, but it reads differently. The baseline is continuous instead of discrete categories, which allows one to see distributions.

Horizon Graph

Compact the area chart by slicing it horizontally, and then then shifting the slices to baseline zero. It's like a combo area chart and heatmap.

Line Chart

Typically used to show trends over time, the slope of the line between two points shows patterns of change.

Line Map

Connect the lines in geographic space and see where they go.

Mosaic Plot

Also known as a Marimekko diagram, this chart uses the width and height of rectangles to represent separate variables. It can be useful to represent multidimensional data.

Moving Bubbles

Making use of a force-directed graph, bubbles move between different clusters to show grouping over time.

Network Graph

Nodes and edges show connections, typically positioned to show strength of relationships.

Organogram

It's also known as an org chart, but I'm going with this from now on because it sounds more sophisticated.

Packed Bubble Chart

Circle size represents data like with a bubble chart, but there is typically no x-y axis. Instead position often represents grouping or is used to maximize space.

Parallel Coordinates

Differing scales run alongside each other, sometimes showing relationships between multiple variables through connections. Can be tricky though.

Parallel Sets

Explore counts across multiple categories at the same time. The geometry is similar to a Sankey Diagram but without the hierarchical flow.

Pictogram

Use symbols or icons to bring in context.

Pie Chart

It's everyone's very favorite chart type. It's okay, you can admit it. The slices represent parts of a whole.

Pyramid Chart

Typically used to show the age distributions for population of male and females. Often animated.

Radar Chart

Looks like a radar. That's why it's called a radar chart.

Sankey Diagram

Show flows from one state to the next.

Scatter Plot

Dots are placed in an x-y coordinate system, based on two variables. The plot is often used when it is thought that the variables are correlated.

Slope Chart

A specialized line chart, this chart type highlights the change in rank or metric over two time periods.

Small Multiples

Use smaller versions of the same chart type to compare across categories.

Spike Map

Spikes of (usually) equal width but varying height are centered on geographic areas. They are often used to show abnormally high counts in concentered regions.

Spiral Chart

Round and round and round and round and round.

Square Pie Chart

Instead of using angle to represent parts of a whole, the square version uses, well, squares.

Stacked Area Chart

Place multiple categories on top of each other for a sense of distribution and overall change. Watch out for large counts eclipsing the small ones.

Stacked Bar Chart

With the stacked version of the bar, compare subcategories across groups. Try not to show too many subcategories though, or it'll clutter quick.

Step Chart

It works like a line chart, but the values change immediately at the x-coordinate instead of with a slope.

Streamgraph

It's like a stacked area chart but with a zero-offset to optimize centrality.

Strip Plot

Dots are placed along a single continuous scale to show distribution along the corresponding variable.

Surface Plot

In 3-D space, closer to a real-world representation.

Table

Visually plain and boring. Sometimes exactly what you want.

Ternary Plot

Show three metrics that sum to a whole. It's good for showing the ratio between the metrics.

Timeline

Place a focus on events over time.

Treemap

It shows the individual values as they compare to the whole. Rectangles are arranged to maintain hierarchy.

Unit Chart

A symbol is used for each unit to place emphasis on individuals or objects.

Variable Width Bar Chart

The vertical height is the same as a regular bar chart. The widths of bars show another dimension for each category. The two dimensions multiplied, area, should mean something.

Venn Diagram

An abstract visualization method to show the intersection between categories.

Voronoi Diagram

Each polygon, or Voronoi cell, contains an original point and all areas that are closer to that point than any other.

Word Cloud

Words are sized by a metric, which provides quick context for a what a body of text is about.