Charts catalog · 56 canonical types · 8 primitives
Pick the objective first. The shape follows.
A chart is a comparison made visible — but which comparison? The catalog is organised by the objective the chart is trying to land, not by what shape it ends up taking. Choose an objective; the family and the canonical type fall out almost mechanically.
Evolve — one thing changing over time
When the x-axis is time and the question is "what shape did it trace?". Lines, areas, columns-as-time-series. Endpoint labels do most of the work.
30.5% of tagged corpus charts · 13 canonical types serve this objective
bar-vertical bar Vertical bars compared across categories on a shared baseline.
bar-stacked-vertical bar Vertical bars where each bar is segmented into stacked components.
column-vertical bar Synonym for bar-vertical — used by some chart libraries.
line time-series Continuous lines tracking values over an ordered axis.
step-line time-series Line that moves only horizontally then vertically — no diagonals.
area time-series Line chart with the region beneath it filled.
area-stacked time-series Multiple area series stacked atop each other over time.
gantt flow Horizontal bars positioned along a time axis showing task durations.
timeline-chart flow Chronological events plotted on a single time axis.
slope specialized Two-point comparison with lines connecting before/after.
candlestick specialized OHLC bars showing open/high/low/close per period.
sparkline specialized Tiny inline trend chart — typography-sized.
small-multiples composite Many small charts of the same type, repeated for different categories.
Compare — A vs B at a single moment
Side-by-side magnitudes — entities, conditions, scenarios — measured at one snapshot. Grouped bars and bullet charts dominate; one accent colour beats a rainbow.
14.8% of tagged corpus charts · 26 canonical types serve this objective
bar-vertical bar Vertical bars compared across categories on a shared baseline.
bar-horizontal bar Horizontal bars with categorical y-axis and value x-axis.
bar-stacked-vertical bar Vertical bars where each bar is segmented into stacked components.
bar-stacked-horizontal bar Horizontal stacked bars — composition per row.
bar-grouped bar Multiple bars per category, grouped side-by-side.
bar-grouped-horizontal bar Grouped bars rotated 90° — multiple series per row.
bar-range bar Floating bars showing a low-to-high range per category.
column-vertical bar Synonym for bar-vertical — used by some chart libraries.
line time-series Continuous lines tracking values over an ordered axis.
donut-multi composition Two or more donuts side-by-side comparing the composition of different populations.
box-plot distribution Five-number summary: quartiles, median, outliers.
violin distribution Box-plot with a density curve overlaid — shape of the distribution made visible.
ridgeline distribution Multiple density curves stacked vertically (joy plot).
forest distribution Meta-analysis effect-size plot with confidence intervals.
bubble correlation Three-variable scatter — x, y, and bubble area.
choropleth map Geographic regions colour-coded by value.
symbol-map map Map with point symbols whose size or colour encodes value.
radar specialized Multi-dimensional comparison on circular axes.
gauge specialized Single-value KPI on a half-circle dial.
bullet specialized Linear KPI with target and ranges — a compact bar with markers.
slope specialized Two-point comparison with lines connecting before/after.
dot-plot specialized Single dots placed along a value axis per category.
lollipop specialized Bar chart with a circle on top — the "lollipop" silhouette.
dumbbell specialized Two dots joined by a line — paired comparisons.
small-multiples composite Many small charts of the same type, repeated for different categories.
table-as-chart composite Formatted table with visual cues — heatmap cells, sparklines, bars.
Decompose — parts of a whole
How does the total break down? Stacks, donuts, treemaps, waterfalls. Only choose donut/pie when you can name the parts in two beats — otherwise stack and label inline.
14.6% of tagged corpus charts · 16 canonical types serve this objective
bar-stacked-vertical bar Vertical bars where each bar is segmented into stacked components.
bar-stacked-horizontal bar Horizontal stacked bars — composition per row.
area-stacked time-series Multiple area series stacked atop each other over time.
treemap composition Hierarchy as nested rectangles, area encodes magnitude.
sunburst composition Radial concentric rings showing hierarchical composition.
marimekko composition Grid where both row and column dimensions are proportional to a quantity.
mosaic composition Marimekko with normalised rows and columns to show conditional probabilities.
pyramid composition Triangular layered shape — population pyramids or ranked hierarchies.
matrix-categorical-coded correlation Grid where each cell carries a category label, colour-coded by group.
sankey flow Flow between sources and destinations with band widths proportional to volume.
waterfall flow Cumulative bars decomposing a starting value to an ending value.
waterfall-vertical flow Standard waterfall — vertical bars cumulative bottom to top.
waterfall-horizontal flow Horizontal waterfall — cumulative bars along a value x-axis.
waterfall-bridge flow Waterfall variant with start/end total bars + delta bars between.
funnel flow Stage-to-stage conversion across an ordered process.
venn specialized Overlapping circles showing set intersections.
Rank — order by magnitude
The list, sorted. Horizontal bars when names are long. Highlight the one that argues; grey the rest. The reader leaves with "1st, 2nd, 3rd".
5.6% of tagged corpus charts · 7 canonical types serve this objective
bar-vertical bar Vertical bars compared across categories on a shared baseline.
bar-horizontal bar Horizontal bars with categorical y-axis and value x-axis.
bar-grouped-horizontal bar Grouped bars rotated 90° — multiple series per row.
column-vertical bar Synonym for bar-vertical — used by some chart libraries.
dot-plot specialized Single dots placed along a value axis per category.
lollipop specialized Bar chart with a circle on top — the "lollipop" silhouette.
table-as-chart composite Formatted table with visual cues — heatmap cells, sparklines, bars.
Position — where on a 2D landscape (x × y)
Two axes, one mark per entity. Scatter, bubble, 2×2 matrix. Use when the joint reading matters — "high on X, low on Y" — not when one axis is decoration.
2.5% of tagged corpus charts · 3 canonical types serve this objective
Distribute — shape of a distribution
Histogram, box plot, violin, dot plot. The argument is in the spread — long tail, bimodal, fat middle. Anchor the median or mean explicitly.
2.3% of tagged corpus charts · 13 canonical types serve this objective
bar-range bar Floating bars showing a low-to-high range per category.
pie composition Slices of a circle proportional to category share.
donut composition Pie with a centred hole — a label or KPI sits in the middle.
donut-multi composition Two or more donuts side-by-side comparing the composition of different populations.
treemap composition Hierarchy as nested rectangles, area encodes magnitude.
marimekko composition Grid where both row and column dimensions are proportional to a quantity.
pyramid composition Triangular layered shape — population pyramids or ranked hierarchies.
histogram distribution Bars showing frequency of values within bins.
box-plot distribution Five-number summary: quartiles, median, outliers.
violin distribution Box-plot with a density curve overlaid — shape of the distribution made visible.
ridgeline distribution Multiple density curves stacked vertically (joy plot).
forest distribution Meta-analysis effect-size plot with confidence intervals.
heatmap correlation Grid where colour intensity encodes value.
Forecast — projected vs known — separating prior from posterior
A line that turns dashed at the present. Fan charts when the uncertainty IS the point. Always mark the cutover and disclose method.
1.8% of tagged corpus charts · 2 canonical types serve this objective
Correlate — does X track Y
Scatter with trendline; r² disclosed. Useful for "as one rose, the other rose" arguments — never use it alone to imply causation.
0.3% of tagged corpus charts · 6 canonical types serve this objective
mosaic composition Marimekko with normalised rows and columns to show conditional probabilities.
scatter correlation Two-variable correlation across many points.
scatter-with-trendlines correlation Scatter plus fitted trend line(s) calling out the relationship.
bubble correlation Three-variable scatter — x, y, and bubble area.
heatmap correlation Grid where colour intensity encodes value.
matrix-nxn correlation Square correlation/relationship grid.
Flow — what moves where, and how much
Sankeys, alluvials, chord diagrams. Effective for funnels, capital flows, content flows. Demands ruthless aggregation — too many ribbons becomes spaghetti.
0.2% of tagged corpus charts · 3 canonical types serve this objective
sankey flow Flow between sources and destinations with band widths proportional to volume.
flow-diagram flow Arrows showing system flow without proportional volume — usually should_be_kind=diagram.
funnel flow Stage-to-stage conversion across an ordered process.
System-explain — how parts connect into a whole
Network diagrams, ecosystem maps, pipeline schematics. Argues with structure rather than numbers — borderline charts, often better as labelled diagrams.
1% of tagged corpus charts · 3 canonical types serve this objective
flow-diagram flow Arrows showing system flow without proportional volume — usually should_be_kind=diagram.
gantt flow Horizontal bars positioned along a time axis showing task durations.
timeline-chart flow Chronological events plotted on a single time axis.
Locate — where on a geography
Choropleth, point-on-map, cartogram. Useful when geography IS the variable — when it is just decoration, a sorted bar wins.
0.6% of tagged corpus charts · 2 canonical types serve this objective
Prioritize — what to do first
Effort-vs-impact, RICE, score matrices. The chart is a decision aid, not data — the axes are the framework, every mark is a candidate.
Visual primitives — the eight on/off switches
Independent of objective, every chart ships some subset of these eight slots. Click any primitive for its full editorial reference, or hop into the anatomy explorer to see them on a real chart.
has_title Title A chart-level title that anchors the takeaway in one phrase.
has_legend Legend Mini swatches mapping colours/markers to series names.
has_axis_titles Axis titles Labels naming each axis (units, what the axis encodes).
has_data_labels Data labels Numeric values placed next to bars, points, or segments.
has_source_note Source note Attribution to the underlying data ("Source: …").
has_trendline Trendline / annotation arrow A fitted line or annotation overlay calling out the rate of change.
has_error_bars Error bars / confidence intervals Visual representation of uncertainty around each point.
has_gridlines Gridlines Reference lines across the plot area.