Tips & Tricks: Data Visualization (Bar and Pie Charts)

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My favorite chart type is whatever convinces leadership fastest 😎 what’s yours?

In this video, I’ll guide you through the process of creating animated bar charts and pie charts in Synthesia—use them in your videos wisely and remember to stick to best practices to make sure your data is easy to understand!

Best Practices

Bar Chart Best Practices

When to use:

• Comparing quantities across categories.
• Displaying changes over time.
• Highlighting differences between groups.

Design Guidelines:

1. Start Y-axis at zero: Ensures accurate representation of data magnitudes.
2. Consistent bar width and spacing: Maintain uniformity for clarity.
3. Use horizontal bars for long labels: Improves readability when category names are lengthy.
4. Limit number of bars: Avoid clutter by not overcrowding the chart.
5. Order bars logically: Sort bars in a meaningful order, such as descending value.
6. Avoid 3D effects: Stick to 2D to prevent distortion of data perception.
7. Label axes clearly: Provide clear axis titles and units of measurement.
8. Use color wisely: Employ color to differentiate categories but avoid overuse.
9. Include data labels: Display values directly on bars for immediate comprehension.

Pie Chart Best Practices

When to use:

• Showing parts of a whole.
• Displaying percentage distributions.
• Comparing proportional relationships.

Design Guidelines:

1. Limit number of slices: Keep slices to a maximum of 5-7 for clarity.
2. Avoid 3D views: These can distort perception of slice sizes.
3. Order slices logically: Arrange slices in descending order or by category importance.
4. Use distinct colors: Differentiate slices with contrasting colors.
5. Label slices directly: Place labels on or adjacent to slices instead of using a legend.
6. Ensure data sums to 100%: Pie charts should represent a complete whole.
7. Use for simple comparisons: Ideal for highlighting a single category's proportion.
8. Avoid multiple pie charts for comparison: Use bar charts instead for comparing multiple datasets.
9. Consider alternatives: For complex data, bar or stacked bar charts may be more effective.

Resources

• Pie chart 101: How to use & when to avoid them — Inforiver by Lumel
• A comprehensive guide to bar charts: when to use them and how to design them — Inforiver by Lumel