Compare and rank
Vertical column chart
Compares category or period values using column heights measured from a shared baseline.
- Chart
- Comparison
- Trend over time
What it answers
How do amounts compare across categories or periods?
- Shape
- Vertical rectangles
- What it shows
- Differences in magnitude and broad time patterns.
Example: Skye Ascent Ltd
The question
Is Skye Ascent Ltd launching more rockets each year?
Skye Ascent Ltd launches per year, 2023 to 2025
Skye Ascent Ltd is a fictional company created for Insyt.
The misleading version
Same question, drawn badly
A part year shown as if it were complete
What goes wrong. The 2026 column covers only nine months, so launches seem to fall. Label a part period, or compare equal periods.
When to use it
Use it when
Comparing short category labels or a small number of periods.
Avoid it when
When long labels become unreadable or unequal dates need numeric spacing.
How to read it
Compare column tops against the shared vertical scale.
Note
Also called a vertical bar chart.
The data you need
- Layout
- Long table
- Fields
- Category: text; Value: number
- One row is
- One category and its measured or aggregated value. What is the grain?
- Rules
- Choose an aggregation for repeated categories. Keep units consistent.
- Optional
- Optional Series or label. Wide alternative: one category column plus one value column per series.
- Preparation
- Validate the input grain and missing values. Choose an aggregation for repeated categories. Keep units consistent.
- Units
- Use the measured variable's stated unit consistently. No denominator is implied unless the value is a rate or proportion.
Worked example
Data Jan=30, Feb=34, Mar=38. Draw columns from zero. March exceeds January by 8 units.
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| A | 30 |
| B | 45 |
| C | 25 |