The dot plot family uses points instead of bars and is, in most cases, an excellent alternative to bar charts. Compare the chart above with this one, displaying the same data:
The bar chart feels somewhat heavy and clunky but, more importantly, it hinders data interpretation: it is not immediately easy to determine which countries saw an increase or a decrease in values. It is also difficult to follow the reference values used to sort the data (2020).
The dumbbell plot makes the direction and intensity of the variation immediately visible. If we want a more conservative version, we can use arrows instead:
This shows that this type of chart is highly flexible and can be adjusted for various levels of graphic literacy and expressiveness.
The dot plot family is generally more appealing and effective, and it has the added advantage of using space more efficiently, making them easier to use on small screens. This one is no exception: as you can see, it only requires a segment whose length defines the intensity and whose color defines the direction of the change.
Dot plots are not available in the standard Excel chart library, but they are easy to make using scatter plots.
Using bar charts is a simple option that works in many cases. But their effectiveness degrades significantly when we have two or more series, as illustrated by this post. The choice of this chart for the first tutorial in the Chart Library is intentional: the fewer bar charts with two or more series we have, the better - and I want to contribute a little towards that.
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