Bar Charts

• Bar charts are common

• They are easy to read
Bar charts • It is easy to see quickly which category is the biggest,
which is the smallest, and also the incremental
difference between categories.

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 Bar Charts

What’s wrong
with this chart

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 Bar Charts

Closer look

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 Bar Charts

Too thin Too thick Just right

8 8 8
7 7 7
6 6 6
Bar Width 5 5 5
4 4 4
3 3 3
2 2 2
1 1 1
0 0 0
A B C D E A B C D E A B C D E

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 Bar Charts

Single series Two series Multiple series

8 8 8
7 7 7

Multiple 6
5
6
5
6
5
A A
Series 4
3
4
3
B
4
3
B

2 2 2
CD
1 1 1
0 0 0
Cat 1 Cat 2 Cat 3 Cat 4 Cat 5 Cat 1 Cat 2 Cat 3 Cat 4 Cat 5 Cat 1 Cat 2 Cat 3 Cat 4 Cat 5

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 Bar Charts

Comparing these is easy Comparing these is hard

20 20
18 18
16 16
Multiple 14
12
14
12

Series 10
8
10
8
6 6
4 4
2 2
0 0
Cat 1 Cat 2 Cat 3 Cat 4 Cat 5 Cat 1 Cat 2 Cat 3 Cat 4 Cat 5

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 Bar Charts

Single series Two series Multiple series

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Category 1 7
Horizontal Category 1
B
A Category 1
C
B
A

Category 2 5
Bar Category 3 4
Category 2 Category 2

Category 3 Category 3
Charts Category 4 4 Category 4 Category 4

Category 5 3 Category 5 Category 5

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 Bar Charts
Single series

Category 1 7
• Prefer natural ordering
• Otherwise, use order which Category 2 5
Ordering of
helps in interpretation
Categories • Ex largest to smallest or
Category 3 4

smallest to largest Category 4 4

Category 5 3

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