Chart Cheat Sheet

In addition to those listed below, Boxplot also uses more advanced visualization techniques than those listed here. With more advanced data analysis tools, you can create specialized charts (like for finance and scientific applications), add animations, include hover information, and code custom buttons to create even more useful data visusalizations.

General Visualization Rules

  • Simpler is better.
  • Choose intuitive colors. We dislike color associations (like water=blue) as much as the next person, but they make charts easier to read.
  • For geographic data: various maps (bubble, choropleth, scatter, line, etc.) are usually best.
  • 3D is never okay.
  • Choose contrasting colors – don’t make the slices of a pie chart 7 slightly different shades of blue.
  • Double y axes should generally be avoided.

Visualization Decision Table

* Bold text indicates these are best choices. Non-bold text indicates these might work depending on the situation.

* Hover over or click on underlined text for more information.

QUANTITATIVE

 
C
A
T
E
G
O
R
I
C
A
L

1

2

3

4+

0

 Histogram

 Boxplot

 Heat Map

 Strip plot

 Bullet chart

 Triangle plot

 Gauge charts

 Scatterplot

 Trellis – line plots

 Standard Bubble

 Trellis -line plots

  Table

 Trellis – line plots

1

  Bar chart

 Pie Chart (including Pie/Bar of Pie)

 Non-axis Bubble

 Dot plot

 Trellis – histograms

 Trellis – strip plots

 Trellis – gauge charts

  Trellis – Bar Charts

  Side-by-side boxplots

  Line plot

 Treemap

 Bullet chart

 Triangle plot

 Scatterplot

 Dot plot

 Trellis – histograms

 Standard Bubble

 Dot plot

 Scatterplot matrix

 Scatterplot matrix

 Table

2

 Trellis – bar charts

 Trellis – pie charts

 Side-by-side Bar Chart

 Heat map

 Mosaic Plot

 Dot plot

 Table

 Trellis – dot plots

 100% Stacked Bar

 Scatterplot matrix

 Modified Bubble



3

 Trellis – dot plots

 Mosaic Plot

 Table

 Heat map

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