Pie Charts

Common Data Visualization Technique

Pie charts are one of the most common data visualization techniques. They can quickly show the relative size of different segments or categories of data.

Their power comes from showing how the whole pie is comprised of slices. The key point is having the “whole pie” and carving it into “slices”. Showing how customers, suppliers, products, employees, investments, or millions of other topics are divided into slices can be very revealing and lead to better decisions. Making a “call to action” based upon easy to understand charts is the mission of many data visualization wizards.

However, pie charts will not work for everything. A great chart will “pop” off the screen and immediately announce there is something important to see. Alternatively, working with the wrong data will be frustrating and lead to a meaningless mess which confuses people.

What to perfect using pie charts to slice your story? The exploration continues on the Transformance Advisors Inc. website. Go to the full Pie Charts article to see what it takes to create a great pie chart and what to avoid.