Do it in Excel: Ring charts are better Pie charts

Pie charts are a circular chart divided into sectors, illustrating proportion. I remembered learning them when I was in primary school. Apparently it was invented by this person called William Playfair in 1801.
Data

Pie charts are a circular chart divided into sectors, illustrating proportion. I remembered learning them when I was in primary school. Apparently it was invented by this person called William Playfair in 1801.

An ancient pie chart showing the proportions of the Turkish Empire in different regions.Pie charts are simple to understand but rather limited because: –

  1. Can only show a single data series.
  2. Can only show limited slices else it becomes cluttered.

Here is a clever twist by using ring charts instead. The following chart was created in Microsoft Excel.

The awesomeness of this beautiful ring chart are: –

  1. Shows multiple series data instead of just one data series. I’ve taken advantage of this property by showing aggregated revenue data in the outer ring. The inner ring shows a detailed breakdown of monthly revenues.
  2. Presents multiple slices of information without being overly cluttered. This needs a careful use of colours though.

To create this ring chart in Microsoft Excel, use this data format.

About Aeternus Consulting

Related Link: Aeternus Consulting Excel Training Courses Singapore

Aeternus Consulting offers an excellent workshop Storytelling with Data Visualization using Beautiful Excel Charts. This workshop is aimed at students visualizing thesis data, managers and analysts needing to communicate in a data-driven way and leaders informing their board to drive actions.

Related Link: Making Charts Beautiful with Microsoft Excel

excel courses in singapore
Advanced Excel Training Courses Classes Singapore: making beautiful charts

One Response

  1. Hi, thank you for sharing this beautiful chart. Would you mind shortly describing how you managed to arrange the inner ring in line with the outer ring? I am facing a similar challenge and would really appreciate it if you shared this information. Thanks!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *