Table of contents

  1. Choosing the correct chart
  2. Choice of data
  3. Comparing data sets – shared horizons
  4. Comparisons of magnitude (size)
  5. Time series
  6. Bar charts for time series
  7. Line charts for time series
  8. Dot plot with line for time series
  9. Multiple time series
  10. Small changes over time, not starting the y-axis at zero
  11. Ranking
  12. Part-to-whole
  13. Deviation
  14. Distribution
  15. Correlation

Print this page

Download as PDF

Multiple time series

Multiple time series should not be presented using bar charts. Use a line chart to make sure the trends in the series are clear. Use points on a line to highlight individual data points, to read specific values or highlight when the data were sampled.

Do

Example of line chart to show multiple time series

A line chart with data points highlighted for easy comparison, showing a blue line for England and an orange line for Wales.

Do not

Example of bar chart to show multiple time series

A bar chart with a blue bar for England and orange bar for Wales, where it is more difficult to compare the differences in the data.