Why this matters
Many managers and donors read your report on a phone between meetings. A clear chart tells them the main point in seconds; a cluttered one confuses them or, worse, misleads them. Employers in monitoring, reporting and business roles ask for data visualisation because a good chart helps people make the right decision.
Choose the chart from the question
- Comparing categories (which branch sold most?): a bar or column chart. Sort the bars from largest to smallest so the ranking is obvious. Use horizontal bars when the labels are long, such as community names.
- Change over time (are sales rising?): a line chart, with time running left to right in order.
- Parts of a whole (what share of participants are women?): a single bar split into parts, or a pie chart only when there are two or three parts. Pies with many slices are hard to read.
- Exact values that people need to look up: a simple table, not a chart.
If a chart does not make the answer clearer than the numbers, use the numbers.
Make it honest and readable
- Title with the message. Instead of "Sales by branch", write "Wa sold the most in September". The reader knows what to look for.