1. Data Visualization in Microsoft Excel
My name is Dave Shellard and I’ll be sharing with you this afternoon some approaches to using Microsoft to Excel to produce high-quality nicely formatted graphs.
AEA Coffee Break Webinar
Dave Shellard
October 11, 2012

2. So why does this matter? Well, how many times have you:
- Opened a report and seen a poorly designed chart and you know the author spent zero dollars or energy in designing their chart to best highlight the data or at a minimum remove the junk that Excel uses by default, been confused by it and passed on or stopped reading all together.
- Or looked at a report and said “wow, I wish I could produce a viz like that” only to find you’d need to learn a whole new programming language or invest a few grand in software.
Just because we all can’t afford Tableau, Think Cell, a graphics artist, we can still leverage Microsoft Excel, a tool many of us use in our practices,  to produce good looking charts, tables, and graphs by understanding the formatting options and a few tricks.

3. Here is a default clustered bar chart for comparing the total runs scored by National League division btw 2005 and While not terrible, you can see that the National league central has scored the most runs for each of the last seven years but there is too much white space and you could alter the scale, gridlines, legend to make a more impactful chart.

4. However, when folks want to do something they tend to make it worse
However, when folks want to do something they tend to make it worse. In fact I think its easier to make your chart worse in Excel then better. Common additions are gridlines and 3D. The gridlines standout too much and take away our focus on the data. The 3D and angling effect makes it confusing to read the lengths of the bars and distorts the image.

5. Title Data Labels Data Series Gridlines Axes Legend Axis Labels
Now you’re looking at what I would do. Over seven chart elements I made about 16 modifications. The seven chart elements I modified were: 1. Axes, 2. Axis labels, 3.Title, 4. Data Series, 5.Gridlines, 6.Data Labels, 7. Legend
I think this cleans up the chart substantially to bring the message through that the NL Central has scored the most runs.
Axes
Legend
Axis Labels

6. format to thousands, two zeros, major unit, gray color, tick marks
7 Chart Elements
16 Modifications
Axes
format to thousands, two zeros, major unit, gray color, tick marks
Axis Title
add, gray color
Chart Title
add
Data Series
order descending, gap width, darken contrast
Gridlines
major vertical, gray color, transparency
Data Labels
series names, delete repetition
Legend
remove
Here are the changes I made. Some I’m sure you know, others you may not. On the following the slides I’ll show you where in Excel 2010 you can make these modifications. I know that all of these can be made in Excel 2007 and My screenshots are from MS Excel 2010 on a Mac and while I believe the elements have the same title, the location may vary.

7. MS Excel Ribbon: Charts >> Chart Layout
There are several ways to reach the formatting options for a chart. Just select the chart ribbon and these options will appear under chart layout in the ribbon. Click on any of these icons, and you can select ‘Options’ which brings up a call box where you can modify everything to re-format your chart.
I also won’t be talking about Data Tables, because I don’t think they should be used. If your data can be displayed in a table, just display the table. I’ve never seen the data table/chart combo that makes sense. Also, I won’t be talking about Legend, Chart Title, or Axis Titles as these are chart elements that, while important for sharing the message of your data, don’t contribute to your chart having impact.
The only item not in this screenshot listed from my previous slide is Data Series. I’ll mention this again shortly.
Chart Element Not in Ribbon: Data Series

8. Axes min & max values, major unit, display units
format display of number
major Tick Inside, No Minor Tick
font color
If I don’t have an arrow, don’t modify any of those setting. You can potentially make things worse instead of better. Also, I have before and after screenshots to show the results of the modifications.
Before
After

9. Data Series gap width order descending Before After
To modify the data series, select the meat of your chart (bars, pie, column) and right click and select ‘Format Data Series’.
The gap width reduces the white space btw clusters.
After

10. Gridlines Change color, transparency Before After
You don’t want your gridlines to be so prominent that your reader mistakes them from the column, bar, or line. I make them very soft in color and nearly transparent.
After

11. Data Labels type, position change font, color, style Before After
I prefer data labels over a legend so I use them when I can.
After

12. Here’s the before one last time
Here’s the before one last time. Again, not terrible but there’s room to make it more impactful.

13. A much more impactful view of the same data.

14. Thank you!
Want to learn more? Come visit me at Evaluation 2012! Working with What You’re Given: Data Visualization in Microsoft Excel Session 617, Friday, October 26th 2:40 – 4:10 pm Room 200A
Thanks Everyone! Come vist me at Evaluation 2012 on Friday afternoon if you want to learn more.
Now we’ll use the remaining time for questions.