9 Types of Charts to Create

Tired of bullet points and paragraphs in your presentations or graphics? Ready to add charts but don’t know where to begin? Allow Visme to point you in the right direction.

Blocks of text are things of the past. Whether you have a big presentation, a pitch deck, a sales meeting — you name it, there’s no better way to display information than with charts.

When you see big numbers or even a handful of smaller ones, it’s easy for us to get overwhelmed. What are we looking at and what’s the point the author is trying to make? You may not know unless it’s in a well organized, easy to read chart.

Hello world! I’m Mike Ploger back again with none other than Visme and in this video, we are going to help you dive into nine types of charts you can use in your presentations or graphics and even share a number of tips along the way that’ll help ensure you’re using each one properly.

Shall we?

Numerical Charts

1.  Bar Charts

As we begin, let me remind you that all of our charts you’ll see today are available in Visme’s editor right now. You can even head to Visme.com to follow along.

Nonetheless, our first chart is the old reliable bar chart. This and our next few examples all fall under the numerical chart category, AKA charts you should use when presenting complex data or numbers.

Bar charts are perhaps the most versatile of charts. They’re excellent for displaying a distribution of data points and then comparing those points like we see here, comparing the largest companies of 2019 by revenue.

Pro tip: Order your category so it’s organized just like this. Walmart is far left, since it generated the most revenue and as you move to the right, the other companies fall into place.

Don’t be afraid to use bar charts for more complex data either. You’ll just need more categories and potentially a key on the side.

This example brings four mini charts together into one, displaying the use of social media across different platforms. When you need to visualize differentiating values in a simple way, bar charts won’t fail you.

2. Line Charts

The line chart is another friend from our past that you should consider reuniting with. These are great for displaying changes in data over time. How did populations change over 10 years, or stocks, or even sales?

As this is the case, if you’re looking to spot trends, line charts are the perfect visual. Numbers on a page won’t help you see how something is growing or failing quite like a line chart will.

And time for another pro tip. Sometimes it’s necessary to include multiple lines in one line chart, like we see here next to me.

In this case, one, you need a legend or key and two, you’ll want to differentiate the lines with the strong contrast in color. Don’t use a red and a bright pink, or a yellow and a bright green. Make sure a viewer can easily see the different paths in your line chart.

3. Pie Charts

If you’re working with percentages, pie charts are your best option. They’ll display the relationship between different elements in a complete study.

See here: This pie chart breaks down how a smartphone user spends their time on their phone. The vast majority is to talk, with texting not too far behind.

Or what about dating apps? These pie charts here show the demographics of who’s going on Tinder both by age and marital status. The first thing that I noticed, 30% of users are married. Interesting! And I’ll leave it at that.

Now, let’s talk about some pro tips. If there are more than seven slices of pie, don’t bother using a pie chart. Go in a different direction. Seven pieces of information causes each slice to be too small. It’s difficult to notice the differences at first glance.

This one has 6 — the ceiling for pie charts. Although I suggest that this author should’ve used a touch more contrast in their pie chart.

Another thing that the previous author could have done better? Kept their design flat. This author also went the 3D route, but we recommend keeping your pie chart flat.

3D pie charts can distort slices, making them look bigger than others, while flat is more modern and also better displays each element.

4. Radar Charts

You may have heard them as web charts, spider charts or maybe even polar charts. We like to call them radar charts. These are excellent when comparing characteristics of two alike things.

See here. Comparing the varying taste and ingredients of two different beers. Or maybe you’re a baseball scout and you need to compare players on their fielding, hitting, base running, mentality and other attributes.

Radar charts are great for those purposes and you could even do it with employees. These charts will really help you understand levels of ability or rank with one or competing subjects.

5. Pictograms

If you want to get creative and artsy with your graphs, pictograms are a great route to take. These charts take your numbers and turn data points into icons.

Take a look at our first example. Employees were polled on their level of happiness. 52% are happy, 26% are content and 22% are dissatisfied. Each percentage point was given an icon. And then they were all grouped together to display that information.

You can really use pictograms with whatever data you’d like. One popular example that we all know is 5 star icons with reviews. It really comes down to how creative you want to get with your design.

This pictogram shows the percentage of men and women using emojis. If you want to use pictograms, just remember, have fun with it.

Organizational Charts

1. Flowcharts

Moving on from numerical charts, we make our way into the other category that is organizational. Their purpose is as they sound. Rather than dealing with numbers, these charts are meant to organize information in an easy to understand design.

The first is the flowchart. These charts will take readers to a process or journey of steps to get from point A to point B. This infographic author wanted his audience to understand his creative thinking process as everybody’s is just a little bit different.

2. Comparison Charts

Earlier we compared different things using the radar chart, but if your information is more textual based, another great way to compare things is the comparison chart.

Take fruits versus vegetables for example. Data isn’t going to have the same effect as short separate blocks of text. Or, a common comparison chart you will see is a pros and cons infographic just like this one here beside me.

These types of charts are excellent for side-by-side comparisons that require a touch of explanation.

3. Hierarchy Charts

If you’re looking for a way to present ranks, a hierarchy chart is your answer.

Think of your office. How can you visually differentiate the regional from the assistant to the regional manager? Some people, AKA Dwight Shrute, might not understand the difference without visual representation.

Here’s another great example from a different office. While some people are more important than others in the workplace, tasks are as well. This is why a hierarchy chart can also be used to display tasks that should be prioritized, characteristics that employees should embody or what your audience should focus on first, second and so on.

Pro tip time! Choose colors that resemble your brand. Especially if your chart is directly related to your business. This will help your audience associate your chart with your business.

4. Venn Diagrams

Our last chart of the day comes to us in the form of a Venn diagram. We saw these in elementary school and they still serve a great purpose in our professional lives. There may be no better tool to compare and contrast two, three, four or even more different subjects.

Now, our first example is the most simple. What do you love? What loves you? That crossover according to this Venn diagram is what makes us so lucky.

Don’t be afraid to use Venn diagrams for more complex ideas though. This Venn Diagram used 5 circles in their graphic and check out how creative it is. The combinations necessary to make various types of coffee. Venn diagrams show us what we have when something is alone or mixed with other influences.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is all the charts that I have. Remember, charts like all of our examples in this video can be created in Visme right now. You don’t have to be a design expert or even hire one to create graphics to make you look like one.

If you learned anything in our video, please don’t hesitate to hit that like button or subscribe to our channel. There might be some other design tips that we can help you out with.

Until next time, happy designing! I’m Mike Ploger with Visme, helping you Make Information Beautiful.