Lollipop Charts
What are Lollipop Charts?
Lollipop charts are a type of data visualization that possess elements from both a bar chart and dot plots to create an minimalized, cleaner version of a bar chart by replacing the data bars with thins lines anchored to the x-axis (vertical lollipop chart) or y-axis (horizontal lollipop chart) that represent the value of the data that are marked at the end by a circle/dot to indicate the total value of the category. Similar to the bars, the lollipops are designed to compare or rank the quantitative value between a larger group of data that would otherwise clutter or be visually aggressive in a traditional bar chart
My Lollipop Charts
For my lollipop charts, I used the Data Viz Project website to create the charts, as the site offers a wide range of charts/graphs that used a data tab, which can used exported Excel files in csv. format, and the design tab that allows you to select the type of chart used and customize attributes of the charts from data labels to color/size of the lollipops. Although it only offers one credit that allows you to download the chart once before asking for I designed a vertical (Figure 1) and horizontal (Figure 2) lollipop chart comparing 10 of the most common cereal brands and their calories per servings, discovering that Honey Nut Cheerios has taken the lead by having 367 calories per serving.
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| Figure 1 (Vertical Lollipop Chart) |
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| Figure 2 (Horizontal Lollipop Chart) |
However as you main noticed in both figures, that not only are the data values outside and on top of the lollipops, there are some that are also missing. For the first issue, unfortunately, Data Viz Project does not allow users to change the position of the data value label to be displayed inside the lollipop. However, while trying to correct the missing data, I believe I discovered that it was caused by the site not displaying the data due to screen size, so by zooming out I can see the values on top the lollipops, but only if I do not remove the data labels. As you can see in Figure 3, this disrupts the visual clarity as the data labels can obscure the value. So for the future, I would recommend searching for other data visualization alternatives that enable you to use a lollipop chart template or use Excel and go through the tedious manual process of creating a lollipop chart to avoid these issues.
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| Figure 3 (All Data Values w/Labels) |
Sources
Lollipop chart. Data Viz Project. (2023, August 16). https://datavizproject.com/data-type/lollipop-chart/
Healy, Y. H. and C. (n.d.). Lollipop chart. Lollipop chart – from Data to Viz. https://www.data-to-viz.com/graph/lollipop.html
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteYour post was very informative especially with the examples a lollipop graph can have. There are many ways you can edit and create the graph to fit exactly the data you want to display. Figure 1,2,3 were all great examples, I would love to see the one you created to see. Good Job.
I really like how clearly you explained what lollipop charts are and why they can be cleaner alternatives to bar charts. Your description of how they balance visual simplicity with clarity made the concept easy to understand.When you compared the cereal brands, did you find that calorie count correlated with serving size or ingredients?
ReplyDeleteHi Patrick , This is really interesting. your work looks like you took your time and did well. i like this post about lollipop charts. you make it look easy. This is great work.
ReplyDeleteHow do you make this look so easy?
Great job.