First, let’s identify three (mostly simple) methods you can use to beef up your story.
1) Sorting – With graphs this simple, there are 3 sorting options that will shape your story.
Alphabetical – This is almost never an option I choose. The only true benefit is the user does not have to work hard to search for a specific category name. When this is the main objective, it usually means there are a lot of categories and a tabular report is better way to deliver the information.
Descending/Ascending- If not dates are involved, I typically am choosing to sort the data descending or ascending by the measure value. This gives the user more information instantly. For example, what categories are first, last, and somewhere the middle.
Chronological– If you are trending a metric, this is the obvious choice. You will sort your dates ascending to see the change in your metric over time. Sometimes your data will happen in a business specific order. For example, you could have things bucketed stage 1, stage2, stage 3, stage 4 where it is important visually to keep the order of these stages as they happen in the business process.
2) Coloring – Using color can make the ingestion of information easier on your consumer. Done the wrong way, it can make the user work harder with no payoff. In general there are 3 obvious ways to color these graphs.
By Category Value or Date –While there are some situations to color by category value, I find it typically not the best option with graphs this simplistic. There needs to be a good business reason associated with the color to justify this move. For example, maybe your category is inherently a performance metric like meeting expectations and not meeting expectations. If you are simply coloring each bar a different color for the sake of having a legend of colors to look up the value, I’d say you probably have the wrong visual and should consider something else.
By Measure Value (Gradient) –
This coloring scheme will give the same information as the height of the bars. This can be a great thing, so don’t be afraid of giving the info twice. People receive intelligence in different ways. Some people will appreciate how the color gradient allows easy identification of first and last places as well as tiebreakers on bars that are very similar in size.
By Performance Metric –
This would be coloring your bars based on another metric that is related to the current metric. For example, coloring the bars based on being above or below the average instantly separates the bars into two groups in the consumers mind. Business thresholds like targets are another perfect implementation of this that executives really enjoy.
3) Transformation Additions – You can add something to the graph that gives more detail on a performance level. These take a little more skill depending on the platform you are creating graphs with, but knowing how to present these options in your graphs can really make you look like an expert! Here are some examples:
Trend Line –
This is a line of best fit you would use with trending graphs. It tells the user instantly how performance is trending given the entire timeframe in view.
Percent Increase –
Great for trending graphs. This info needs to be presented with care, as it can be very confusing if not positioned in the right way. There are tons of options like this, and they can get more and more complex but if you have the data chops to present them correctly, you can be a pro among your peers.
Performance Buckets –
Business threshold expectations or average lines clearly shows the user what’s good, and what is not so good.