Chart-selection simulator
Which chart would you choose?
Read a real request from a stakeholder, decide what you need to show, then pick the chart. Whatever you choose, you always get the reasoning.
About this exercise
This exercise trains the first step of every visual: turning a business question into a goal (compare, trend, composition, relationship or distribution), then choosing the chart that answers it.
How it works
- Read the stakeholder’s request.
- Decide what you need to show.
- Pick the chart that fits best, then read the reasoning for every option.
5 scenarios in this exercise
- Your sales director asks: “Which of our 7 regions sold the most last quarter?”
- A founder wants to see “how monthly active users changed over the last 18 months.”
- Marketing asks: “What share of our budget goes to each of our 3 channels?”
- An analyst wonders: “Do customers who spend more also rate us higher?”
- Ops asks: “When during the week are support tickets busiest, by day and hour?”
Goals to choose from
- Compare values across categories
- Show change over time
- Show parts of a whole
- Show how two things relate
- Show how values are spread