This is a guest blog post by Brent Dykes, author of Effective Data Storytelling and a leading expert in data visualization and communication. Brent shares practical strategies to turn your data into visuals that drive insight and action. He works with leading organizations around the world to build stronger data cultures and is a sought-after speaker at company and industry conferences. Learn more at analyticshero.com. Jump directly to part 2 of this series here or part 1 here.
In the previous two parts of this series, we walked through the steps involved with choosing the right chart. For many, once a suitable chart is identified, it may feel like the hard work is over. All that remains is to build the visualization and share it with the audience.
But overlooking the significance of this final step would be a mistake.
In the last article, I shared a grocery store analogy where a chart chooser helps you find the right product in the right aisle for your recipe. But imagine returning home with that perfect ingredient, only to burn it during the preparation stage. Despite having what you needed to make a great meal, a careless misstep leaves you ordering takeout instead.
In a data visualization setting, the worst-case scenario is similar: your audience doesn’t understand the numbers, or the intended message isn’t clear. Whatever insight you hoped to convey or action you wanted to spark is lost.
Even after identifying the right chart, you must still design it with care and intention to unlock its full potential. This is where many otherwise well-intentioned visuals can fall short. In this final step, five design elements play an outsize role in ensuring your chart delivers the insight and impact you intended.
Step 3: Refine your chart to align with purpose and audience
In this three-step framework, you’ve first identified the right chart category (Step 1), then selected the best chart within that category (Step 2). Now, Step 3 ensures that the final visual delivers your message with clarity and impact.
With the right chart selected, the stage is set. At this point, you should know what specific message you want to communicate and who your target audience is. Whether your chart is exploratory or explanatory in nature, and whether it serves one or multiple objectives, design will shape how well it performs. When your design aligns with both your purpose and your audience, it can clarify the message, deepen understanding, and drive real impact.
If you’re using a chart chooser, chances are you’re not a professional data visualization designer—and that’s okay. You might be unsure what separates a good chart from a great one. While entire courses are devoted to this very topic, I’ll focus on five essential design elements that can significantly improve how your chart communicates with your audience. These five elements aren’t just aesthetic choices—they’re strategic levers that guide attention, aid interpretation, and reinforce your message.
1. Layout
Establish the overall structure and spatial relationships that guide how viewers navigate your chart.
Chart positioning: Where should the chart be positioned and how should it be configured to create a natural reading flow?
Legend usage: Do you need a legend, or can you label data elements directly?
Size and proportions: What aspect ratio and sizing best supports your message?
2. Emphasis
Direct attention to your most important takeaways while ensuring supporting information remains visible but secondary.
Primary focus: What single element should immediately capture the viewer’s attention?
Secondary elements: How can you push less critical data to the background without having it disappear?
Emphasis overload: Are you highlighting too many things at the same time?
3. Color
Use color strategically to support your message, maintain accessibility, and align with organizational standards.
Message alignment: Do your color choices reinforce or contradict your intended meaning (red for negative, green for positive)?
Accessibility standards: Are your colors accessible to colorblind viewers and readable across different viewing conditions (projectors, screens, printed materials)?
Functional purpose: Does every color serve a functional purpose (e.g., highlighting differences, reinforcing meaning), or is it purely decorative (e.g., rainbow palettes, brand colors)?
4. Labeling
Provide the right amount of textual information to aid interpretation without creating clutter or unnecessary redundancy.
Precision level: What level of precision (exact numbers, percentages, rounded figures) best serves your purpose?
Label placement: Where can you place labels to minimize interference with reading the data?
Information density: Are you including only essential text that is necessary or is it adding clutter? Are the labels large enough to be easily read?
5. Context
Frame your chart with titles, subtitles, and annotations that help viewers understand the data’s significance and interpret its meaning correctly.
Title specificity: Does your title describe what’s shown or communicate the key insight?
Background knowledge: What contextual or benchmark information does your audience need to interpret this correctly?
Supporting details: Should you include source attribution, time periods, or other clarifying details?
Individually these design elements may seem like minor considerations, but when you add them up they can make or break the effectiveness of your data chart. The more critical the visual is to following and understanding your message, the more attention you need to pay to these elements. They can refine and sharpen what you’re communicating so the right chart can achieve what you need it to. Let’s return one more time to Susan, our marketing manager, to see how she applies these design principles to refine her donut chart and ensure her key message lands with impact.
Use case: Refining a chart for maximum impact
Susan selected a donut chart to serve her dual objectives: primarily show how last quarter’s leads broke down by three customer segments (composition), while also highlight which segment performed best (comparison). While the chart structure is now set, she knows that her design choices will determine whether her message lands clearly with her audience of sales and marketing leaders.
Let’s see how she applies the five key design elements to refine her visual:
1. Layout: Simplifies the design to guide attention
Susan considers the overall placement of the chart in her slide deck. To ensure it’s front and center, she removes a cluttered table that previously appeared beside the chart. She adjusts the chart size so it’s larger and easier for all executives to interpret regardless of where they’re sitting in the room. Instead of using a legend, she places direct labels next to each segment within the donut, so her audience doesn’t need to scan back and forth.
2. Emphasis: Highlights what matters most
To address her secondary comparison object while maintaining her primary composition message, Susan strategically uses emphasis. She applies a bold color to the small business segment to highlight its dominance, while softening the others with muted tones. This approach lets viewers immediately see both the complete breakdown and the standout performer.
3. Color: Applies color with purpose and accessibility in mind
She carefully selects neutral colors for the segments, so she doesn’t imply that the small business segment is “good,” and the others are “bad.” She also knows a couple of the executives have color vision deficiencies, so she uses a colorblind simulator to verify all the segments are distinguishable from each other.
4. Labeling: Balances precision with readability
Susan debated whether she should show both the lead counts and percentages. She decides to focus primarily on the percentages for each segment with no decimal places to simplify the labels. She places the total lead count in the center of the donut to reinforce the overall scale.
5. Context: Frames the chart with a clear takeaway
To frame the main takeaway from this visual, Susan adds the following headline: “Lead composition: Small businesses represented 56% of Q2 leads (+22% YoY).” This headline strategically addresses both her objectives. “Lead composition” signals the part-to-whole nature (primary), while “56%” and the growth metric highlight the small business dominance (secondary comparison goal). She also includes the data source and time frame so that the executives are clear about what data they’re looking at.
With these enhancements, Susan’s donut chart becomes more than just a static image—it’s a focused, well-designed visual that highlights the key takeaway that her audience needs to understand and act on. In less than ten seconds, a busy executive can scan the slide and grasp what’s essential. That’s the power of aligning chart design with your purpose and audience.
Common pitfalls in the chart selection process
As I close out this series on how to choose the right chart, I’d like to cover some of the common pitfalls that occur in the chart selection process. As you may have seen or experienced, it’s easy to go astray even with the right tools and intentions. Here are some of the most common pitfalls that undermine a selected chart’s clarity, insight, and impact.
1. Jumping straight into the chart chooser. Without pausing to clarify your primary objective, you risk choosing a chart that looks good but doesn’t deliver what you need it to.
2. Focusing only on familiarity. We often default to charts we know (bar or pie charts), overlooking better options that could better fit the use case.
3. Forcing a single-objective design. When your data serves multiple purposes, don’t abandon secondary objectives once you’ve selected a chart. Use design elements strategically to address all relevant goals without compromising clarity.
4. Not framing the metric effectively. Even accurate data can mislead if it’s dropped into a chart without enough context. A raw number without a baseline or a percentage without scope can leave your audience guessing—or worse, misinformed.
5. Ignoring the audience’s data fluency. What works for you might confuse or overwhelm an audience that is less familiar with the data. Meeting them where they are is essential to success.
6. Treating design as decoration. Smart visual design isn’t optional or an aesthetic bonus. It’s what ensures your message lands clearly and quickly.
These mistakes are easy to make, especially when you’re up against a tight deadline. That’s why having a simple, structured approach matters, and why it shouldn’t stop once you’ve identified the right chart category.
The frameworks I’ve shared in this series are designed to bring clarity to your process and confidence to your choices. When you align purpose, data, audience, and design, you don’t just pick a chart that “looks right”—you craft a visual that resonates, persuades, and drives action.
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