When designing user experiences, visual clarity is key. Understanding visual data representation, such as bar charts, pie charts, line charts, and heatmaps, can help teams communicate data effectively, identify trends, and make informed design decisions. In this post, we’ll briefly examine a handful of the most common diagrams used in UX.

Bar Chart

Used to compare quantities across different categories, making it easy to see relative sizes or amounts.

Histogram

Visualizes the distribution of numerical data by showing frequency counts, making it great for understanding data spread.

Line Chart

Ideal for visualizing trends over time, helping users track changes or progress.

Area Chart

Similar to a line chart but with the area under the line filled in, useful for showing volume or cumulative trends.

Pie Chart

Best for showing proportions or percentages of a whole, making comparisons between parts clear.

Donut Chart

A variation of the pie chart, often used to show proportional data while keeping the center clear for additional information.

Gauge Chart

Useful for displaying performance or progress towards a goal, often seen in dashboards for tracking KPIs

Scatter Plot

Used to display relationships or correlations between two variables, showing how one set of data affects another.

Bubble Chart

A variation of the scatter plot, but with a third dimension represented by the size of the bubbles, used to compare values across three variables.

Heatmap

Uses color intensity to display patterns or trends across data, helping identify areas of high or low activity.

If you found this post useful, check out Part 2 here.