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From stock market prices to sports statistics, numbers and statistics are all around you.

However, numerical data alone is merely a combination of figures and doesn't tell a story. The most meaningful data and/or data analysis in the world is useless if it's not communicated correctly.

Identifying the relationship between your data set or data points and telling the story behind the numbers will also encourage your audience to gain actionable insights from your presentation.

You visualize data points through charts and different types of graphs.

The good news is you don't need to have a PhD in statistics to make different types of graphs and charts. This guide on the most common types of graphs and charts is for you.

Keep reading if you're a beginner with no data visualization background but want to help your audience get the most out of your numerical data points, both in-person and via a web conference. You'll also discover data visualization best practices, advice from experts in the craft, and examples of well-thought-out charts and graphs below!

Most Common Types of Charts and Graphs to Communicate Data Points With Impact

Whether you're about to create a collection of business graphs or make a chart in your infographic, the most common types of charts and graphs below are good starting points for your data visualization needs.

A bar chart, also known as a horizontal column chart, is popular for a reason - it's easy on the eyes and quickly visualizes data sets. With bar charts, you can quickly identify which bar is the highest or the lowest, including the incremental differences between bars.

When to use bar charts

If you have more than 10 items or categories to compare.

If your category labels or names are long.

Best practices for bar charts

Focus on one color for a bar chart. Accent colors are ideal if you want to highlight a significant data point.

Bars should be wider than the white space between bars.

Write labels horizontally (not vertically) for better readability in your bar chart.

Order categories alphabetically or by value to ensure consistency across your bar chart.

" Bar charts must always have a zero baseline (y-axis value at zero) to ensure consistency."

2. Line chart

Not to be confused with line graphs, you can use a line chart to plot continuous data or data with infinite values. For example, the line chart below highlights the increase in keyword searches for "remote work" across the US from February 1, 2020, to March 22, 2020.

When to use line charts

Compare and present lots of data at once.

Show trends or progress over time.

Highlight deceleration.

Present forecast data and share uncertainty in a single line chart.

Best practices for line charts

Use solid lines only because dotted or dashed lines are distracting.

Ensure that points are ordered consistently.

Label lines directly and avoid using legends in a line chart.

Don't chart more than four lines to avoid visual distractions.

Zero baseline is not required, but it is recommended for a line chart.

Pro-tip for line charts from Mike Cisneros, an award-winning data visualizer:

3. Area graph

An area graph is like a line chart as it also shows changes over time. One difference with these types of graphs is that area graphs can represent volume which is typically filled with color.

The area graph example by the BBC below shows a simple comparison of two data sets over a period of time.

When to use area graphs

Best practices for these types of graphs

Don't display more than four categories on these types of graphs.

Use transparent colors to avoid obscuring data in the background on these types of graphs.

Add annotations and explanations to these types of graphs.

Group tiny values together into one bigger value to prevent clutter on these types of graphs.

4. Scatter plot

A scatter plot or a scatter chart helps show the relationship between items based on two different variables and data sets. Dots (or plot data) are plotted in an x-y coordinate system. In some scatter plots, a trend line is added (like in the example below) to a scatter plot.

When to use a scatter plot

Show relationships between two variables.

You have two variables of data that complement each other.

Best practices for scatter plots

Pie charts highlight data and statistics in pie-slice format. A pie chart represents numbers in percentages, and the total sum of all pies should equal 100 percent. When considering charts and graphs to employ to visualize data, pie charts are most impactful to your audience if you have a small data set.

The donut pie chart, a variation of the pie chart, shows a design element or the total value of all the variables in the center.

When to use pie charts

Best practices for using a pie chart

Limit categories to 3-5 to ensure differentiation with the pie chart slices.

Double-check if the total value of the slices is equal to 100 percent.

Group similar slices together in one bigger slice to reduce clutter.

Make your most important slice stand out with color. Use shades of that specific color to highlight the rest of the slices.

Order slices thoughtfully. For example, you can place the largest section at the 12 o'clock position and go clockwise from there. Or place the second largest section at the 12 o'clock position and go counterclockwise from there.

6. Pictograph

Despite having 'graph' in the name, a pictograph doesn't fall into types of graphs. Instead, a pictograph or a pictogram is a type of chart that uses pictures or icons to represent data. Each icon stands for a certain number of data sets, units or objects. For example, the infographic below contains a pictogram - each human icon represents 10 percent of CEOs.

When to use pictographs

When your target audience prefers icons and pictures instead of data sets (to illustrate data).

Show the progress of a goal or project to show continuous data.

Highlight ratings to compare data.

Share survey results or data distribution.

Share level of proficiency or data sets.

Best practices for pictographs

7. Column chart

A column chart is ideal for presenting chronological data. Also known as the vertical bar chart, this type of chart works if there are only a few dates to highlight your data set like in the example below.

When to use column charts

Best practices for column charts

Pro-tip for using column charts for a data set from Storytelling with Data:

8. Bubble chart

A bubble chart or a bubble plot is a lot like a scatter plot. However, bubble charts have one or two more visual elements (dot size and color) than a scatter plot to represent a third or fourth numeric variable.

When to use a bubble chart

Best practices for bubble charts

Pro-tip from Elizabeth Ricks, a data visualization instructor on creating a bubble chart:

9. Gauge chart

A gauge chart, also known as a dial chart, is an advanced type of chart that shows whether data values fit on a scale of acceptable (good) to not acceptable (bad). For example, you can create a gauge chart to display current sales figures and use your quarterly sales targets as thresholds. Not all charts are able to show data in this way.

Gauge charts are particularly helpful where the expected value of the data is already known. This helps organizations create actionable reports and help employees understand where they stand in terms of metrics by looking at the chart.

When to use gauge charts

Best practices for gauge charts

Limit two to three colors for each gauge or avoid high-contrast color combinations.

10. Stacked Venn

A stacked Venn chart is used to showcase overlapping relationships between multiple data sets. This type of graph is a variation of the original Venn diagram, where overlapping shapes or circles illustrate the logical relationships between two or more variables.

When to use the Stacked Venn

Emphasizing growth within an organization or business

Narrow down a broad topic

Best practice for Stacked Venn

Avoid high contrast color combinations to ensure readability.

A mosaic plot is a graphical representation of the multivariate categorical data. It is a rectangular grid that displays the frequency or proportion of variables. The area of each rectangle corresponds to the proportion of occurrences of a category, considering the multiple variables.

When to use mosaic plots

Best practices for mosaic plots

"Mosaic plots can quickly become intricate if the number of categories is too high or if the categories demonstrate an even distribution."

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. It lists tasks on one axis, and the project timeline on the other axis. Each task is represented by a horizontal bar spanning the duration of the task.

When to use Gantt charts

Best practices for Gantt charts

"Using charts, you can simply document progress on projects and HR processes such as employee evaluations, interviews, selections, job postings, etc"

Radar charts, also known as spider or web charts, use a circular display with several different quantitative axes looking like spokes on a wheel to show multiple variables.

When to use radar charts

Best practices for radar charts

"Make sure you are not using more than two variables. Otherwise, it will be tedious for a user to understand and conclude."

Waterfall charts are a type of data visualization used to show how an initial value is increased and decreased by a series of intermediate values, leading to a final value.

When to use waterfall charts

Best practices for waterfall charts

"A waterfall chart highlights how a value either increases or decreases over time to reach an end value. Waterfall charts are great for telling the story of how a quantity of interest (for example, cash position) changes over time."

Heat maps use colors to represent different values, allowing you to view patterns, variance, and clusters in large data sets.

Best practices for heat maps

"Heat maps make it easy to understand relationships between data points and the overall trend."

A funnel chart is a type of diagram that shows the flow of users through a conversion process. Each stage of the process is represented by a proportional section of a funnel, which is wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, illustrating the decrease in numbers that occurs at each stage.

When to use funnel charts

Best practices for funnel charts

"Funnel charts can represent data so that it's easy to read, understand and identify problem areas. They're well suited to illustrate connected, sequential steps in a linear process."

A Pareto chart is a type of chart that contains both bars and a line graph. The bars represent individual values (sorted in descending order), and the line indicates the cumulative total. This chart is named after Vilfredo Pareto, who observed the 80/20 principle.

When to use pareto charts

Best practices for pareto charts

"Investing exclusively on the 20% for too long can lead to stagnation and overoptimization of a few metrics to the detriment of others. It can also reinforce stakeholder beliefs that just a few metrics should drive product vision and design work. Avoid this trap of all-or-nothing thinking."

A stacked bar graph breaks down and compares parts of a whole. Each bar represents a total, and segments in the bar represent different categories or parts of that total.

When to use stacked bar graphs

When you need to compare the total and one part of the totals across different categories.

If you want to visualize part-to-whole relationships.

When you want to show how a category is divided into sub-categories. For example, if you're measuring specific app engagement metrics, such as conversion rate by feature.

Best practices for stacked bar graphs

"Stacked bar charts are designed to help you simultaneously compare totals and notice sharp changes at the item level that are likely to have the most influence on movements in category totals."

Flow charts represent workflows or processes showing the steps as boxes of various kinds, and their order by connecting them with arrows.

Best practices for flow charts

"In deciding how much detail to put in the flowchart (i.e., how much to break down each general step), remember the purpose of the flowchart. Steps that do not affect waiting times can be left without much detail."

20. Box plot (box and whisker plot)

A box plot, also known as a whisker plot, displays a summary of the range and statistical distribution of a dataset based on a five-number summary: minimum, first quartile, median, third quartile, and maximum.

Best practices for box plots

"Although box plots may seem primitive in comparison to a histogram or density plot, they have the advantage of taking up less space, which is useful when comparing distributions between many groups or data sets."

What About the Other Types of Graphs and Charts?

There are plenty of other types of graphs and charts-line graphs, multiple line graphs, candlestick charts, and the list goes on. They are almost always specific to a particular industry, and the charts and graphs we've listed should be enough to address your basic to intermediate data visualization needs to illustrate hierarchical data and beyond.

Choose Charts and Graphs That Are Easiest for Your Audience to Read and Understand

Before you share your chart or graph, show it to a couple of colleagues or a small group of customers. Pay attention to their questions, their observations, and how they react to your chart or graph.

If you're looking for a graph maker, create a free Piktochart account and sharpen your data visualization chops by making the right types of graphs and charts in minutes from multiple data sets and beyond.

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20 Essential Types of Graphs and When to Use Them

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Learn about the most common types of graphs and when to use them. Help your audience get the most out of your data through charts and graphs.

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Introducing the graph

The graph/table/pie chart/bar chart/diagram ...

gives information about/on ...

provides information about/on ...

shows ...

illustrates ...

compares ...

explains why ...

describes ...

draws the conclusion of (a survey) ...

Example: The pie charts provide information on the proportion of males and females working in agricultural sector.

Types of changes

Nouns

a rise (of)

an increase (of)

a growth (of)

a peak (of)

a surge (of)

Example: a rise of prices

a fall (in)

a decrease (in)

a decline (in)

a dip (in)

Example: a fall in prices

a fluctuation (of)

a variation (in)

Example: a fluctuation of prices

Verbs

to rise

to increase

to surge

to grow

to peak

Large rises:

to rocket

to soar

to leap (->leapt)

to fall

to decrease

to decline

to dip

to dive

to plunge

Large falls:

to plummet

Description of changes

Adverbs

sharply

suddenly

rapidly

abruptly

dramatically

significantly

considerably

markedly

wildly

Example: the prices rose sharply

slightly

gently

gradually

steadily

modestly

marginally

Adjectives

sharp

sudden

rapid

abrupt

dramatic

steep

significant

considerable

marked

substantial

spectacular

slight

gentle

gradual

steady

consistent

modest

marginal

Useful phrases

a small fraction, a small number, a small minority

a large portion, a significant majority

nearly a fifth, almost 10%, in region of 40%, more than a half, over a quarter, around two thirds, more or less three quarters, exactly one in ten, approximately a third

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IELTS describing graphs. Vocabulary to answer Academic Writing task 1

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IELTS Task 1 vocabulary: describing graph