A well-designed graphic can be one of the most persuasive elements of your trade show booth display and literature. It illustrates to your customers why your product is the obvious solution to one of their specific needs. You can communicate the main benefits or features more clearly than words.
To make a great chart, you need to create a clear and compelling picture of data that will call your customers to action. Your graphic message should be easy for them to understand without having to study it. Three of the easiest chart types to understand are:
1) Bar charts
Bar charts are an excellent method for comparing groups of data. Each data set can consist of a single bar for simple comparisons or multiple bars that break the information into subcategories for deeper analysis.
Bar charts are easy to interpret because most people are already familiar with viewing data in this format. You can use bar charts to emphasize data represented by the tallest bar, the shortest bar, the general trend of the bars, or a change in the bars caused by a certain variable.
2) Pie Charts
Pie charts are useful for showing percentages of a larger whole. In a pie chart, the entire pie chart represents the total data and each “slice” represents the data for a particular group within the whole.
A pie chart is simple and easy to understand. It provides a clear visualization of the class of data that represents the largest percentage of the total (represented by the largest slice of the pie) and the relative value of each of the other classes of data.
3) Line charts (also called run charts)
Line charts show or compare trends, cycles, increases, and decreases over time. Typically, a line chart displays events on the y-axis affected by time on the x-axis. A line representing an average of the chartered data is often included as a reference point. Or multiple lines can be plotted on a line chart, each representing a different product or variable.
Tips for a successful chart
Make sure your chart compares your data on equal terms. Use the same scale for all categories of data in a chart (for example, comparing data measured in dollars to data measured in hundreds of dollars is not the same). And use a consistent interval between your data categories (measuring 1-week intervals vs. 5-week intervals is not an accurate comparison).
Use graphics to communicate the importance of your statistics. Some of the statistics you may want to highlight on your chart are:
- Median value (the midpoint of all data).
- Maximum value (the maximum data point in the series).
- Minimum value (the minimum data point in the series).
- Sample size (the total number of data points in the series).
- Data range (the maximum value minus the minimum value).
- Standard deviation (how widely the data is distributed around the mean).
Once you’ve chosen the best chart type for the data you want to display to your customers, remember to keep your chart as simple as possible. The customers of the fair are assaulted by thousands of images. Don’t compare too many things or include too many categories of data. Your goal is to educate your customers, not confuse them.
And resist the urge to add fancy extras like images and 3-D effects if they make the chart look busy. If a chart is too detailed or cluttered, customers won’t spend the effort to figure it out. They’ll pass it off as a technical result of mumbo-jumbo, and move on to something that clearly and convincingly calls them to take a closer look at a product.
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