Nov 8, 2012

Why have you made this chart?

Yesterday I came across this chart in a presentation:


What can you make out from this chart? Think about it for a minute and then read on.

Other than being able to compare Apple sales across the months, nothing else is visible. The problem with this chart is, the sales values are very different from each other. While apple sale is touching 250, Mango sale is at 1. We cannot use Bar Graphs when the difference between values is so steep.

So how are you going to show this information then? My suggestion, make a table. Here it is:


We are now able to make out everything. If you want to discuss how fruit sales have been in the last 4 months, you can now discuss it. In this case, a chart is not needed. Even if there was a need, you cannot make it like a bar graph. My suggestion. Since we have only 16 points of data let us not complicate matters. Stick to a simple table. Simple is better.

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