How To Choose The Right Graph (Types of Graphs and When To Use Them)

In this video I cover different world's five most popular types of graph and when they should be used.

For example, a bar chart is great for putting numbers in categories.
A histogram can show the data over time.
And the pie chart... well...

It’s surprisingly easy to make a confusing graph. What are the world's most popular charts? In this Chart, Graph and Data Visualization tutorial for beginners, find out everything you need to know to choose the right type of chart for your data.

00:00 - Intro
00:10 - Bar Chart
00:16 - Vertical Bar / Column Chart - Category Comparison
00:54 - Horizontal Bar Chart - Ranking
01:13 - Stacked Bar Chart - Part-To-Whole
01:53 - Histogram - Distribution
02:38 - Pie Chart
03:41 - Scatter Chart - Correlation
04:01 - Line Chart - Change Over Time
04:29 - Becoming a Data Visualization Master

[undatable]

Let me know if you have any questions! I reply to all comments… as you see below! 😉

[adarshanayak]

I stumbled on this video and it was amazing to see how one can summarize the use cases of graphs in just around 5 minutes....you are truly a genius. The convincing value of this video is wonderful!!

[spongebobby]

U gotta stop sitting down as a means to make your content more interesting. It's a fail!

[bkxornam]

Dude this is crazy amaaaazing. I have leant and understood more about these graphs in less that 5 min that all of my life. Thank bro.

[erinjohnson]

"these are the only charts you'll ever need (except for one...)"

Except for what??? Please finish that thought, please

[composercode]

I’m looking to visualize survey data at my church and this was INCREDIBLY helpful. Thank you!

[david]

I like it, straight to the point. Subscribed.

[Tayoadet]

Thank you for this video. I wasn't sure which to use between bar chart and pie chart. Although I just have 4 data points, your illustration made it very clear that bar chart is the way to go.

[Houy-SyTHAO]

Hi ! THanks for your video. I would like to get in touch with you, how can i chat with you? Can I find you on LinkedIn for instance?

[simbarashemagadzire]

Thanks a lot sir. Very very clearly explained. If you get a chance please share same video but without one graph towards the end 🤣 - it may be difficult to share it with some colleagues whom I would also like to understand this concept. But thanks all the same!! Much appreciated

[pieroblast]

Hey mate cheers for the content. I'm going to show my students this video. I edited the auto generated transcript to be more correct. Here it is if you want to slot it in this video.

Intro
So, these are the world's five most popular charts. And in this video, I’ll show you why these are the only charts you'll never need (except for one) and how you can start using them.

Bar Chart
In first place, the world's most popular chart is the bar chart. There are a few versions of them so let's go through the main types.

Vertical Bar / Column Chart - Category Comparison
Vertical bar charts are the best for category comparison. So, if you're comparing countries or teams. And in this example, we're looking at different apps and how many downloads there were in 2020. With bar charts we can quickly and easily compare the differences in data. With the story on this one being that despite what most people think, tick tock, not zoom, was the most downloaded app of 2020. But vertical bar charts lose that quick comparability when there's lots of different categories so try and only use them if there's less than seven categories. However, if you absolutely must have between seven and fifteen different data points, flip your vertical bar chart on its side and you have a horizontal bar chart.

Horizontal Bar Chart - Ranking
Really though these are best when you want to communicate ranking. So, things like election results. Like this chart about the London mayoral elections that shows the candidates ranked by votes. They're also great for showing things like performance stats like sales performance or this example here which shows Oscar nomination performance.

Stacked Bar Chart - Part-To-Whole
You should use stacked bar charts if you want to show part to whole. So, how much different elements contribute to that overall total. For example, we already showed this chart where the main message was that tick tock, not zoom, was the most downloaded app of the year. But if you were then to use a stacked bar chart and break out the downloads for the US, you still get the overall picture. But you also see that in the US, the difference between the two is actually a lot smaller. Which is probably why people thought that zoom was more popular. A warning though for stacked bar charts; keep them simple. As soon as the stacked bar chart becomes far too complicated, like this one, comparing the different components becomes almost impossible and they become more or less useless. So that's bar charts.

Histogram - Distribution
Now for the second most popular chart in the world which is the histogram which is basically a bar chart. But if a bar chart breaks down data by different categories, histograms should show the distribution over a continuous variable. So, things like time, age, weight. These charts are great to
understand things like this one. Showing the income distribution in the US. And probably most famously population distribution. Like this one showing data for the US where age is on the y-axis and population on the x-axis. It's split by male and female. And histograms are generally less about the individual data points and more about the broader pattern that it shows. So, if we quickly change this and look at data from Nigeria, you can immediately see from the pattern that Nigeria has a much younger population.

Pie Chart
And taking bronze, the world's third most popular chart, is the pie chart. Okay let's talk about pie charts. Pie charts are hated by data visualization experts the world over. Mainly because they're really bad at showing multiple data points like this one. Fail. But also, our brains aren't really very good at comparing things like areas and angles. And here's a challenge for you. So, look at this chart here and quickly work out which was the third most downloaded app. Three. Two. One. Time's up. Okay now look at this one which is showing exactly the same data and tell me now which is the third most downloaded app. Three. Two. One. Bar charts are just much better than pie charts for communicating data. But if you absolutely must use one, follow these tips. Firstly, never use more than five data points. Then rank the values in order where the biggest segment begins in the top right-hand corner. Then make sure you put all labels next to the segments, which means you can also remove the key. And then use colors to help you communicate what you want to point out.

Scatter Chart - Correlation
In fourth place we have scatter plots. Now, if you're looking to show correlation or how two things relate to each other, then scatter plots are your best mate. They can be used to either show that there is a correlation or that there isn't a correlation to show clustering trends or to spot outliers. They're probably one of the most persuasive charts to use if you want to convince somebody of something.

Line Chart - Change Over Time
The world's fifth most popular chart is the line chart. So, if you want to show how something changes over time, then go for the line chart. It's great for showing things like stock market Price, visitors to your website. Or if you want to go really meta, this is a line chart showing the search volumes of the term line chart since 2004. So, we can quickly see that its popularity has increased while also dipping every December and every July.

Becoming a Data Visualization Master
So, these are the world's five most popular charts. It’s not so there aren't other charts that you can use. But unless you're a data vis master, stick with these and spend that extra time focusing on how to communicate these charts better. The best way to do this is to use the data to ink ratio which you can learn in less than five minutes by clicking on the link on your screen. The data to ink ratio is one of the simplest and most effective things to keep in mind when you want to create more persuasive charts graphs and data visualization. So, click on the link on your screen to find out how you can start using it right now.

[lilianezeli]

I'm about to start learning Power BI. I looked through a few well designed dashboards and didn't quite understand what the charts were or even how to use them in any context. This video was helpful

[christophtraun]

Never use a pie chart, when categories do not sum up to a whole (as it is the case here, as there are more apps around than the mentioned)

[LofiComms]

Thanks a lot sir! I didn't copied our math lessons, now I have an idea! I really appreciate this work!

[Raidenmommy]

thank you now im gonna pass my science test

[rashv]

When to choose a donut chart over a pie chart?

[emilyjade]

Firstly, thank you! This is really well presented, packed with great information, all for free! Instant subscription. Secondly, do you have any other platforms that I can subscribe to?

[katejacksonrealestate]

Ahem... I enjoyed the second scatter chart correlation subject example... Very, um... persuasive.

[sk-hilg]

1:02
see there the one in 5th place
legends know who's that
lol seriously what a good video that is

[allangallant]

I'm glad I watched this before I showed it to my students.