This chart is an example of a 100% stacked column chart. The data shown in the chart represents projects over a three year period, categorized as hit goals, missed goals, and exceeded goals. I think this is a good example of how a 100% stacked column chart can work well to show trends over time, in this case highlighting the worrying trend of more projects with missed goals.
The data used to plot the chart looks like this:
How to create this chart
- Select data and Insert > Column chart on Ribbon:
- Choose the 2D 100% stacked column option:
- Chart as inserted:
- Move legend to top of chart:
- Select data on the ribbon (or right click to select)
- Reorder series to plot missed data first:
- Reorder series to plot missed data first:
- Set tick marks on vertical axis:
- Select and delete horizontal grid lines
- Chart at this point in the process:
- Right click each series and set fill color:
- Final chart before resizing and setting title:
This is an example of a 100% stacked area chart. This tricky chart type can be quite hard to read. The idea is to visually show a percentage distribution across categories at specific intervals, but you lose the ability to compare absolute numbers, unless you add as data labels. In this case, data labels are only used to display the series name.
So, what can you see with this chart? Primarily, you can see that sales of Retrobags are collapsing while Organic Flannel makes up the slack. Hammocks and Banjo Packs are relatively stable. But what you can’t see is if overall sales are increasing (they are) or decreasing.
The data used to plot this chart looks like this:
How to create this chart
- Select the data and select line chart on the ribbon:
- Select the 100% Stacked Area option under 2d area
- Chart as inserted
- Select and delete legend
- Add data labels to chart:
- Select each data series. Check Series Name, then uncheck Value:
- Final 100% Stacked Area chart before title and size changes:
