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How to Make a Histogram Your Audience Will Understand
Written by:
Nayomi Chibana
If you're trying to share data and statistics, whether in a presentation, infographic or online visual, you need to find the best chart to do so. Visme makes it easy to visualize your data with different types of charts, from bar charts to line charts and more.
To learn more about 16 unique charts you can create with Visme, follow along with us throughout this article. Or take a quick dive into our tutorial video below.
Ready to start visualizing your numbers and statistics with style? Browse through all of the below chart examples and templates that you can customize right now in Visme.
First of all, the traditional bar and line chart options are more sophisticated, with the option to create both horizontal and vertical stacked charts.
And, unlike with traditional tools like PowerPoint or Excel, it’s much easier to achieve the exact look and feel you’re going for by modifying everything from the color scheme and font style to the background color and placement of labels, but we’ll get more into that later.
Take a look at our stacked bar chart example below.
Visme's chart engine gives users the ability to choose from three different line styles: smoothed line, step line and the basic line. You can also superimpose other graphic elements on your line chart, such as data explainers, arrows and other types of lines.
You can rotate pie charts to position certain segments at any desired angle. In the case below, we wanted the thin slice representing those who make it into the NBA to create a more dramatic effect.
Like the first example above, this is a stacked area chart, which is useful for visualizing the changes in the contribution of different values over time. For example, in the chart, we can easily detect that less and less workers are taking week-long vacations.
You can turn several different types of charts into 3D charts with the click of a button. Simply input your data and select whether you want a 3D bar chart, pie chart, etc.
You can create scatter plots like the one below, which are useful for visualizing individual points and detecting relationships between variables.
Or you can create radar charts (also called spider graphs) like this one. If you’re not familiar with this type of chart, its purpose is to create a single identifiable shape out of several data points.
While a single radar chart on its own would be meaningless, as you would have no point of comparison, a series of radar charts can allow viewers to quickly get an idea of an ideal shape and how actual numbers measure up to it, as in the example below.
As with pie charts, you can also rotate doughnut charts within Visme and create as many segments as needed.
Another type of chart you can create is the funnel chart, which is extremely useful for visualizing stages in the sales process, as seen below, and detecting problems in an organization’s customer acquisition model.
Like many other types, it can also be converted into a 3D version with the click of a button.
Hierarchical visualizations such as pyramid charts are also useful for representing information according to levels, such as levels of importance, levels of income, among other types of categorizations.
They can also be used to represent stages in the customer acquisition model, such as the one below.
You can also create Mekko charts, which are commonly used to visualize marketing and sales data.
Like a stacked bar chart, it represents the relative contribution of a specific value within a subcategory through varying heights – but also uses varying column widths to visualize the contribution of those same values.
Here, you can clearly see not only the relative market share of each of the four biggest brands in four different markets, you can also visualize the overall contribution of each of the brands in the entire device market.
A radial bar chart is a different way to represent the same categories you see in a horizontal or vertical bar chart. Get creative with your data, just like we've done below in our design tools visualization.
You can also create your own interactive content like this chart and embed it onto a webpage to create an interactive experience for your audience.
Create project timelines quickly and easily with Visme's circular Gantt chart options. Input your date ranges for each project to let team members know when things need to be completed.
Half pie charts are great ways to represent parts of a whole, just like a pie chart, but in a smaller, more bite-sized visual.
A pictogram or pictograph is a great way to represent basic numbers in a more visual way. Choose icons relevant to your data or topic and represent hard numbers with differently colored visuals.
When looking to visualize percentages, sometimes all you need is a data widget. This can be anything from a progress bar to a thermostat to a speedometer and more.
Visme has a wide variety of creative and unique data visualization tools that can help you represent your numbers in a more digestible way.
Now that you know about the unique types of charts you can create right inside Visme, let's talk about the different ways you can customize your charts and your data.
For those of you who are new to Visme, you can easily create your own data visualizations for free by signing up for a free account at www.visme.co and choosing any of the available templates under one of the content categories.
Next, click on the Data icon on the toolbar on the left side of your screen and then insert your data using one of three methods:
Visme also allows you to sync live data: When you connect a Google sheet, any changes made to your original data will be reflected in the online version of your chart, which is especially useful when there are regular updates to information.
We’ve all been there before: After painstakingly arranging your information in rows or columns, you then notice your information would be better visualized by inverting your column and row data.
This can now easily be done within Visme by clicking on the Switch Columns and Rows button to the top left of your spreadsheet area.
If you want to add more information or manipulate any of the data, you can now easily expand your work area by dragging the sidebar in or out.
Once you’ve finalized all changes to your data, you can now choose any of the available types of charts from the menu at the top of your editor.
You’ll see all of the options described above with their previews, as well as their 3D versions, when available.
Besides the ability to choose from 50 color scheme presets under the Presets tab, you can also save your own color palettes for future use and reapply them as many times as needed if you have a brand kit.
This is especially handy when your charts and graphs need to follow certain brand guidelines.
Once you’ve decided on the best chart type for visualizing your information, you can then click on the Settings tab to customize the look and feel of your chart or graph.
Depending on your chart, you’ll see different options under the Style section of your Settings section. For most of the chart types, you’ll be able to turn the grid on or off and change the background color or leave it transparent.
For pie and doughnut charts, you’ll see an additional setting which allows you to adjust the angle of your pie chart so that you can position certain segments at a specific degree.
For the line and area graph types, you’ll also be able to choose from different line graph types, as seen below, and turn point markers on or off.
Next, under the Axis section of your Settings, you can also choose to hide your axes and adjust the angle of your labels, which comes in handy when dealing with long category labels.
In this section, you can also name your axes and customize everything, from the color of the text to its font and point size.
One especially useful customization setting is the ability to set specific minimum and maximum y-axis values. This allows you to truncate charts when appropriate, either to make a point or when it is accepted practice within a certain industry.
If you want to create a minimalist chart to give your audience a bird’s-eye view of your information without overwhelming them with the details, you’ll want to hide values, which you can do under the Values section.
In other cases, you will want to provide specifics and even add prefixes or suffixes to your values (such as $, % or any other symbol), which you can do under the Values section.
If you like your charts and graphs as simple and easy to read as possible, you might want to do away with your legend altogether, which you can easily do by deactivating the Show Legend option under the Legend section of the Settings tab.
Here, you can also adjust the placement of your legend so it appears either at the bottom, top, right or left of your chart.
As with the other chart elements, you can adjust the font, its size and color, as well as its alignment.
If you’re looking to create stacked charts like the ones in the introduction to this post, all you have to do is activate the Stacked Bars option under the Settings tab.
Although charts are animated by default, you can deactivate this option under the Animation section.
Or you can also choose from five different animation effects, seen above.
Finally, you can insert a title and subtitle for your chart under the Titles section and adjust the font, color and point size.
Alternatively, you can also create your own stylized titles and place them wherever you like on your canvas area using Visme’s text tool.
If you haven’t already taken Visme’s chart tool for a test drive, try it out for free here and let us know what you think of these various types of charts in the comments section below.
Also, if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact us via our support section.
Want to create beautiful data visualizations with the click of a button? Start creating charts and graphs within minutes with our easy drag-and-drop software. Access dozens of graph tools right now.
About the Author
Nayomi Chibana is a journalist and writer for Visme’s Visual Learning Center. Besides researching trends in visual communication and next-generation storytelling, she’s passionate about data-driven content.