How to use radar charts for clear, insightful data stories
Master radar charts with Flourish and discover how stellar and radial bar charts offer even clearer visual comparisons
The radar (also known as a spider chart) is a widely used visualization style for comparing people, places or other entities across multiple metrics. The metrics in the data need to share the same scale, so you’ll most commonly see radars used for percentage points or scores out of ten.
In Flourish, radar charts come with rich customization options – from interactive controls to fully branded designs, just open the Radar Chart template and drop in a spreadsheet with a column for each metric. You can even take things a step further with grid layouts that place charts in custom positions, unlocking entirely new ways to display data.
Small charts, big insights
The example above shows radars on a “small multiples” grid, where each radar gets its own mini axis. This layout is a go-to choice for radars, allowing patterns to emerge across multiple players, teams, or categories at a glance.
With just a click, you can switch between a combined grid view (great for comparing an entire football team) and a focused view on an individual player. With a fully responsive grid that automatically adjusts to any screen size, the grid of charts option provides a level of flexibility that makes analysis easier and more dynamic.
But that’s not all! Instead of a fixed grid, radars can be arranged in meaningful layouts or custom positions – such as mirroring a football pitch, mapping players by region, or aligning with any structure that makes sense for your data. It’s a simple way to add more context and tell a stronger story.
A smarter way to compare radar charts
Sometimes, comparing multiple radar charts at once can get overwhelming – but a couple of clever features make it much easier. Comparison lines create a subtle duplicate of each radar shape along every axis, so differences between categories stand out more clearly. It’s a simple way to track patterns without losing context.
There’s also an interactive legend that lets users click on a color to show or hide specific groups. Want to focus on a particular category? Just toggle the legend to declutter the view and highlight what matters most. These small tweaks make radar charts more intuitive, helping users explore data in a way that works for them.
To make things even clearer, you can add group labels to the outside of the axis. This is especially useful when your radar chart includes multiple categories that follow a broader theme – like seasons, regions, or different aspects of wellbeing.
In this example, the labels divide the months into seasons, making it easier to see how electricity usage changes throughout the year. The chart shows that US residential electricity consumption peaks in the summer months, with July and August consistently seeing the highest values.
The downsides of radar graphs
Radar charts have their critics, and while opinions vary, it’s useful to understand some of the common drawbacks. One limitation is that shape is very affected by the order of the metrics on the axis, which in itself usually means little or nothing.
A second issue is that the area of each radar can be misleading. On a traditional area chart, if the values are twice as high, the area below the line is twice as big. But on a radar chart, the area is exaggerated relative to the values.
The third main argument against radars is that the metrics on each spoke of the axis are usually discrete, but the way they are connected by a line might imply that they are continuous.
The solution? Radial bar charts!
Following advice from data visualization practitioners, alternative chart types like radial bar charts and stellar charts offer a different way to present circular data. Stellar charts, a term coined by Alexandre Morin-Chassé, use tapering bars to create a smoother, more dynamic look.
Stellar and radial bar charts improve readability by addressing common radar chart issues. Unlike radars, where shape is distorted by metric order, these alternatives use independent bars, making values easier to compare. Both approaches reduce clutter, improve spatial efficiency, and make patterns clearer at a glance.
That’s why you’ll find both “Star” mode and radial bar charts available as options in Flourish. With a quick adjustment to stroke, fill, and inner radius settings, you can easily switch between a traditional radar and a visualization that better suits your data.
PS: Did you ever notice that the Flourish logo is actually a stellar chart? 👀 Learn more about the rationale behind our refreshed branding on our blog.
