Select the right chart type for your narrative
Choosing the right chart type is the cornerstone of effective data storytelling – it transforms raw numbers into clear, compelling narratives that your audience can immediately understand.
How to choose the right chart for your data
The right chart depends on three key factors:
- the metric you’re using to tell the story
- the chart type that best fits both the data (metric) and the message
- whether your audience needs granular detail or aggregated trends
Start with the right metric
The insight you want people to remember is what defines your story – and we covered how to choose it in the previous section.
Start by defining your core message, then work through the following systematically to find the visualization that serves your audience best.
Choose a chart that fits both your data and your message
Different data structures naturally align with specific chart types.
- Time series data (dates and values) works with line charts and area charts;
- Categorical data (distinct groups) fits bar and column charts;
- Part-to-whole relationships suit pie charts and treemaps;
- Correlation analysis calls for scatter plots and bubble charts;
- Hierarchical structures require sunburst charts or network diagrams.
Let the decision guide the chart
Most datasets can be visualized in more than one way – but the right choice depends on the decision you want to support.
Take monthly revenue split by pricing plan. Your data includes both time series data (revenue per month) and categorical data (distinct pricing tiers), so multiple chart types could work.
This is where your story comes into play. If your goal is to show how a new pricing plan is growing, a line chart makes sense – you need to highlight progression over time. But if your goal is to show which pricing plan generates the most revenue overall, a comparison chart is more appropriate.
The data stays the same, but the message changes.
Continue to Data
Match detail level to your audience’s needs
- Use granular data (individual data points) when viewers need to see exact values or identify meaningful outliers.
- Use aggregated data (trends and patterns) when the broader direction matters more than precise numbers.
If someone asks, “What’s the exact value for X?”, choose granular. If they ask, “What’s happening overall?”, choose aggregated.
Get the most from your chart design
Once you’ve chosen your chart, how you design it affects how easy it is to understand. This section shows how to adapt your chart for different uses, including layout, interactivity, and animation.
Design for the smallest screen first
When designing charts for mobile, prioritize simplicity by using fewer data series, horizontal bar charts, larger text, and vertical scrolling. Once the mobile version is clear, you can enhance it for larger screens with additional data and interactions.
For print or social media, ensure the chart is self-explanatory with clear labels, a legend, and annotations, as interactivity is not available.
Quick test: View your chart on an actual phone, not just a resized browser. Can you read everything? Is it immediately clear? Then check if the same story works when printed in grayscale.
Use interactivity strategically to deepen engagement
Interactivity can turn passive viewers into active participants when it’s used with intention.
It becomes especially valuable when your story isn’t linear, and when your audience is likely to have their own questions.
Interactivity makes sense when:
- The dataset has multiple layers that can’t be reduced to a single snapshot
- Different stakeholders care about different segments
- The real insight sits beneath the surface
- Your audience wants to explore scenarios, not just see a conclusion
Imagine you’re reviewing quarterly sales performance.
A static chart might show total revenue by region. But questions quickly follow: How does this look by product line? What about enterprise clients? Is growth coming from new business or renewals?
One view can’t answer everything. That’s where interactivity becomes practical – filters, segments, and toggles let teams explore what matters to them, without losing sight of the core message.
But the foundation still matters. If the key insight is “Revenue grew, driven by enterprise renewals,” that should be clear in the default view. Interactivity should explain the drivers, not hide the conclusion.
Animate to captivate and guide
Motion helps people understand change, follow comparisons, and stay oriented as data updates — enabling readers and presenters to answer deeper questions on the spot. That’s why animation is built into Flourish by default: it makes change easier to process.
It’s also powerful when interactivity isn’t available — like on social media or in email, where animation can carry the story in a linear way.
To get the most from animation:
- Use it to clarify change, not distract from it
- Keep transitions smooth and brief
- Let the default view communicate the main insight immediately
Start with data
The Flourish Start with Data feature generates a range of chart options for your data, so you can browse and see the one that best fits your narrative. Simply upload your data, and Flourish does the rest – using data pattern matching and scoring algorithms to analyze your data and suggest suitable chart types that fit its structure. It even handles some of the behind-the-scenes prep to make sure the templates work for your dataset – so you spend less time guessing, more time creating.
The Flourish template chooser
The template chooser is ideal for users with a clear visualization goal, such as recreating specific charts or exploring chart categories. It allows experienced users to quickly select a template, upload data, and customize their visualization. It’s also beneficial for learning Flourish’s capabilities and finding inspiration from the different starting points for data storytelling.
