Charts: Visual Evidence

A picture says a thousand words, in Excel we call those pictures charts.

Charts are visual evidence we use to help prove an argument. The difficult part of a chart is "knowing" what you are trying to prove. You could always just start highlighting data and charting it until something looks interesting but starting with an argument makes charting much easier.

Once you know what you want to chart its just a matter of organizing the data in a table, clicking the insert table wizard and adding any additional formats that help prove your message. (Tables may sound intimidating but its just a simple, structured way of organizing data... I will explain more in a future tip)

Example (from GraphJam):

see more Funny Graphs

The message is simple. The chart, even if the data is fictitious, proves the message "Stranger's don't like to get petted"

This is how you would make this chart.

Organize your data into a table that looks like this:

Then you will have to add Titles to the Chart & Axese. The last trick will be to format the Y Axis as a white text color before adding a text box with your custom labels to your charts drawing layer.

Here is a link to the chart recreated in Excel for you to play with.

As always, feel free to leave comments/questions/suggestions.

-Danny