How to fix your confusing bar chart
Today we’re going to solve a very common problem that many bar charts have.
It’s a problem I see all the time, and I bet you see it all the time too. It’s a problem that makes Bar Charts harder for your viewers to understand quickly.
With Power BI, there’s a VERY easy fix for it too!
We’ll use a simple Power BI report to demonstrate how to fix Bar Charts.
The video below (and the written instructions below) use a simple Power BI file with one simple table. If you’d like to download a copy of it to use yourself, you can download it here.
If you’d like to use the same data that I do in the below video, here is the data file you can connect to Power BI Desktop:
Video:
Written Instructions:
We’re starting here with a report that I’ve built a single Bar Chart on. I’ve formatted it a bit to take out some chart clutter.
Now, let’s look at this Bar Chart from the viewers’ perspective. It’s not very good.
It’s not good because it takes a bunch of work on the part of your viewer to get an insight out of this chart.
If your viewer wants to compare the number of participants in a certain program between two regions, they have to figure out what bar color they should be looking at, and then do some mental comparing.
We’ve given them (in this example) 15 data points all mushed together that they have to interpret in conjunction with the legend up at the top that they have to keep checking to tie a color with a certain program.
And, this is a simple example. I bet you’ve seen a Bar Chart built like this but with a LOT more data points.
The fix here is remarkably easy, and it’s all about making the digestion of this data easier for your viewers.
This chart is adding a layer of complexity by bunching together all 15 data points.
Let’s make some room for our fix on the bottom of our canvas by reducing the height on our bar chart.
Then, we’ll make a copy of it while pressing CTRL-C while it’s selected, and then pressing CTRL-V. We can drag the copy down below the original.
This copy is where we are going to do our super simple fix to make this Bar Chart a TON easier to read and understand.
All we’ll do is in our Visualizations pane, is move our Program field from our Legend box (this is what is splitting each Region into 3 bars) to the Small Multiples box.
This gives you an *instantly* better bar chart that’s easier to understand.
Instead of splitting all your Regions up by Program and mashing together all 15 data points, you’ve now created some order in your Bar Chart, clearly defining which bars go with which Programs (without having to constantly check a Legend).
Let’s compare the two charts again:
The organization of the Programs into sections reduces the work your viewers have to do.
It’s immediately evident which bar belongs to which Program, and there’s also white space between each section to let each Program’s data have it’s own space.
Once you turn your confusing Bar Chart into an easy fixed one with Small Multiples, you can format the Bar colors, the titles, even those lines in between. This works with more than 3 categories too!
There is our easy fix to your confusing complicated Bar Charts! One small change makes a WORLD of a difference.
Take care everyone,
Joe.
Post Tags: Bar Charts | Fixes | View all Post Tags
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This post was made with the Aug 2024 version of Power BI Desktop.