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5 alternatives to pie charts

Every time I encounter a 3D pie chart made in Excel, it pains me a little.

In data visualization, opinions on pie charts vary. Some people like them, while others think they should never be used. Mathematician John Tukey believed pie charts could always be replaced with a better chart.

Unlike Tukey and design theorist Edward Tufte, who criticized pie charts harshly, I don't think they should be entirely avoided. I just believe they should be used less frequently.

Similar feelings often extend to Excel spreadsheets, dubbed “walls of data.” Both pie charts and spreadsheets are often overused and stretched beyond their intended purposes. However, eliminating them isn't the solution; rather, we should ensure people have more visualization options.

Many suggest using bar or line charts instead of pie charts. But I've challenged myself to present five unconventional alternatives for more engaging data visualization. Before you resort to another pie chart, consider these options:

The Dumbbell Chart #

Often, pie charts are misused to show changes over time or categories. If you want to highlight variance, the dumbbell chart, or DNA chart, is effective. It shows changes using visual lengths, making it easier to see differences, unlike pie charts which can be confusing.

For instance, a dumbbell chart clearly shows sales distribution differences over time, which is hard to discern with pie charts. Here's an example showing the increase of women in the US House of Representatives by party, visualized by Katie Kilroy with data from the Congressional Research Service.

The Bump Chart #

If ranking categories over time is your goal, a bump chart, a specialized line chart, is useful. It effectively visualizes ranks but can become cluttered if there are many categories or frequent rank changes. Here's an example showing car color popularity changes over 16 years, inspired by Datagraver.

The Doughnut Chart #

For showing parts of a whole quickly, doughnut charts are beneficial. They convey total percentages and use the circle shape effectively. Unlike pie charts, they free up the center space for additional information. Though not as good for showing variance or ranks, they can display proportions effectively, like this example showing salary proportions, visualized by Ryan Sleeper with data from Sean Lahman.

The Tree Map #

Tree maps use area instead of angles to show proportions, overcoming a common pie chart limitation. They work well with more than five categories and subcategories. Here's a tree map visualizing weekly Google search volumes for football players, showing more comparative information than a pie chart.

The Waffle Chart #

Waffle charts are versatile and visually engaging. They represent parts of a whole with 100 squares, which can be shaded to show percentages. They are great for comparing proportions but can become complex with too many segments. This example shows comparative cancer survival rates, visualized by Gwendoline Tan with data from Our World in Data.

These are just a few creative ways to visualize data beyond pie charts. Other interesting alternatives include Marimekko charts, Sankey flow diagrams, radial pie charts, and sunburst charts.

Good luck with your tableau training!