14. Visuals and Their Formatting
14.4 Bar and Column Charts (Stacked, Clustered, 100% Stacked)
| Visual | Use for | Avoid when |
|---|---|---|
| Clustered bar (horizontal) | Comparing categories, long labels, rankings | Time series (use column/line) |
| Clustered column (vertical) | Comparing few categories, short time periods (months) | More than ~12 categories with long names |
| Stacked bar/column | Total and composition | Comparing inner segments precisely (no common baseline) |
| 100% stacked bar/column | Share of composition across categories | Absolute size matters |
Field wells: Y-axis (category for bars) / X-axis (category for columns), the value axis, Legend (series split), Small multiples, Tooltips.
Examples on our data:
- Clustered bar: Y-axis = City, X-axis = Total Orders, sorted descending.
- Clustered column: X-axis = Month Name, Y-axis = Total Sales, Legend = Platform (Blinkit vs Amazon Now side by side).
- Stacked column: X-axis = City, Y-axis = Total Orders, Legend = Payment Mode.
- 100% stacked bar: Y-axis = City, X-axis = Total Orders, Legend = Delivery Speed Band. This shows the share of fast deliveries per city.
Key formatting (Visual tab): Y-axis/X-axis (type Categorical/Continuous, range min/max, font, title, Concatenate labels for hierarchies), Gridlines, Bars/Columns (colour per series, Spacing: inner/outer padding), Data labels (position Inside end/Outside end, display units, background), Total labels (for stacked charts), Legend (position, title), Small multiples (grid layout), Zoom slider.
Tip
Mhanje asa: sort bars by value (… › Sort axis › Total Orders › Sort descending), unless the category has a natural order (months, delivery bands).
Practice task
Build a stacked column chart of Total Orders by City with Platform as the legend. Turn on Total labels, then change it to a 100% stacked column and explain what new insight you get.
Ravindra Bagale's Tip
Friends, many students use stacked bars to compare individual segments, but only the bottom segment starts from a common baseline. Use clustered bars when readers must compare segments (UPI vs Card by city), and stacked bars when the total matters most. Sort bars by value unless the axis has a natural order. It's very simple – just make it a habit.
Ravindra Bagale's Tip – मराठी
मित्रांनो, बरेच students वेगवेगळ्या segments ची तुलना करण्यासाठी stacked bars वापरतात, पण फक्त सगळ्यात खालचा segment च common baseline पासून सुरू होतो. वाचकांना segments ची तुलना करायची असेल (city नुसार UPI vs Card) तर clustered bars वापरा, आणि total सगळ्यात महत्त्वाचा असेल तर stacked bars. Axis ला नैसर्गिक क्रम नसेल तर bars value नुसार sort करा. एकदम simple आहे, फक्त सवय लावून घ्या.
Ravindra Bagale's Tip – हिंदी
दोस्तों, बहुत से students अलग-अलग segments की तुलना के लिए stacked bars इस्तेमाल करते हैं, पर सिर्फ़ सबसे नीचे वाला segment ही common baseline से शुरू होता है. जब पढ़ने वालों को segments की तुलना करनी हो (city के हिसाब से UPI vs Card) तो clustered bars इस्तेमाल करो, और जब total सबसे ज़रूरी हो तो stacked bars. Axis का कोई natural order न हो तो bars को value से sort करो. बहुत आसान है, बस आदत बना लो.