Charts and When to Use

Line Chart

show trends over time or continuous data (e.g., sales over months or years).

Bar Chart

compare categories or magnitudes (e.g., sales by product category, multiple items side by side)

Map

visualize geographic data (e.g., employee distribution by city or state)

Pie Chart 

show proportions or ratios of a whole (best with few categories)

Scatter Plot

show correlation or relationship between two measures (e.g., age vs. salary by department, identify patterns or outliers)

Heat Map 

visualize intensity or relationships between two dimensions (e.g., age group vs. education level, or high/low values across categories).

Barbell Chart 

compare two related measures across categories for gap analysis (e.g., salaries by education level for both genders)