How to use Pie Chart

“There is a story in your data. But your tools don’t know what that story is. That’s where it takes you to bring that story visually and contextually to life.”― Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals

Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic's message underscores that data visualization is not merely a task of creating visual art. It is a process of storytelling and making informed choices about chart selection. Together, let's embark on a journey to explore various chart types, understanding how, when, and why to utilize each one effectively

Example of a Pie Chart

The chart below illustrates the utilization of social media platforms by marketers in January 2023. Each slice represents a specific platform, showing both its usage percentage and its contribution to the overall pie.

Best Practices of using a Pie Chart:

1. Sorting the Slices of the Pie Chart According to Sizeit’s best to order the slices according to their contribution to the whole. A common practice is to place the biggest slice on the top-right side of the chart.

1. Merge the Smaller CategoriesIt’s best practice to limit the number of slices to around "five". When there are more than five slices, it is best to combine smaller categories. In the below chart. in the below chart: instead of a 9 categories, you can combine it into a 6 categories which will make it easy for your audience to read it .

1. Avoid Unnecessary EffectsAdding visual effects—such as a three-dimensional effect—might distort a pie chart. These effects are often applied for emphasis or better aesthetics. Sometimes, these effects are unnecessary and make the interpretation of the pie chart difficult. It is a best practice to add visual effects to pie charts only when it’s necessary.

1. Comparing values across multiple pie chartsIt's not a good practice to use Pie chart to compare between 2 groups as the Human brain is not good ate comparting between angles (Pie chart angles), hence using column or line graph is often a better choice when this kind of group-to-group comparison is desired

1. Showing data that doesn’t sum to 100% if the slices sum to something other than 100%, it is wrong. By definition, the pie must depict a meaningful whole.?

Creating effective visualizations goes beyond simply selecting the right graph; it also involves utilizing the graph correctly to communicate information clearly and effectively.

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