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Marimekko / mosaic-width stacked chart

Uses column width for one total and segment height for within-column proportions.

  • Chart
  • Composition
  • Multivariate comparison

What it answers

How do group size and within-group mix combine?

Shape
Variable-width segmented columns
What it shows
Joint contribution and group-size differences.

Example

The question

How do market size and our share combine across segments?

Market by segment (width) and our share within it (height)

Market by segment (width) and our share within it (height)Column width shows each segment’s share of the market; pink height shows our share within it. Retail: 40% of market, our share 30%; Hotels: 25% of market, our share 55%; Offices: 20% of market, our share 20%; Public: 15% of market, our share 45%.Our shareCompetitors0%25%50%75%100%30%Retail40% of market55%Hotels25% of market20%Offices20% of market45%Public15% of market
Market by segment (width) and our share within it (height)Column width shows each segment’s share of the market; pink height shows our share within it. Retail: 40% of market, our share 30%; Hotels: 25% of market, our share 55%; Offices: 20% of market, our share 20%; Public: 15% of market, our share 45%.Our shareCompetitors0%25%50%75%100%30%Retail40%55%Hotels25%20%Offices20%45%Public15%
Column width shows each segment’s share of the market; pink height shows our share within it. Retail: 40% of market, our share 30%; Hotels: 25% of market, our share 55%; Offices: 20% of market, our share 20%; Public: 15% of market, our share 45%.

Illustrative data. It belongs to no company.

When to use it

Use it when

Comparing composition while retaining unequal group totals.

Avoid it when

When readers cannot reliably compare variable-width rectangles.

How to read it

Read each column's width, then segment height within that column.

Note

Rectangle area represents joint contribution under consistent scaling.

The data you need

Layout
Long table
Fields
CategoryA: text; CategoryB: text; Count: nonnegative number
One row is
One category combination and its frequency. What is the grain?
Rules
Aggregate duplicate combinations. Preserve zero cells and use a positive total.
Optional
Raw alternative: one row per observation with both category columns. More factors are possible.
Preparation
Calculate group totals for column widths and component shares for within-column heights.
Units
Width =group total/grand total; height =component/group total; rectangle area encodes joint share.
Example of the input layout: Long tableA long table: one row per observation, few columns. New data adds rows.CategoryACategoryBCountAABBC
A long table: one row per observation, few columns. New data adds rows.

Worked example

GroupA totals 40 with Yes 30; B totals 60 with Yes 20. Widths 40%/60%; Yes heights 75%/33.3%; rectangle areas represent 30 and 20 of 100.

CategoryACategoryBCount
AYes30
ANo10
BYes20
BNo40
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