Proper Way to Depict Chart Data

    I have a chart and its confusing to the eye. Each block represents a type of shipment. The numbers at the top of each column represent the total number of shipments for the month. For instance in Oct (column J) it looks like there are more shipments, but in reality Nov (column K) has more shipments just not as many different types of shipments. month . The goal is to show each different types of shipment as well as the number of shipments without causing the confusion that the current chart does.



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    Re: Proper Way to Depict Chart Data


    A chart should show the message (conclusion) you want the recipient to easily see. Sometimes it takes more than one chart if there is more than one message. In your case, my initial suggestion would be to try a stacked column chart showing the number of shipments by type. Once seeing that it may be some types re so insignificant in number that they could be grouped in a miscellaneous category. (I would do this using Excel charts rather than Excel cells.)

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