Chart / Graph Expertise Needed Please
maf79 Oct 15, 2009 10:25 AMI have a few chart questions. I posted on one of the other adobe design forum's (which I fully admit is where it should probably be) but it appears to be an inactive forum so since this has to do with making charts in Illustrator, I'm copying and pasting it here. But first I have another question, still about making charts. I would appreciate some expertise.
Question 1:
As you'll see in question 2, I can make a basic chart but I'm want to spice up charts. I only make charts for one project a year. This year the project is a little different and I want them to stand out more than normal. There are different types of data combined and I want to ensure that I'm using the right chart. Does anyone have a good resources (maybe even with examples) showing what types of charts to use when?
For example, a percentage of change for 3 variables over 5 years. Would this be a line chart or a bar chart? The person who gave me the data in excel did a quick excel line graph, but I'm leaning toward a vertical bar chart.
I know this is not Illustrator-specific (but I am using Illustrator). I would appreciate help if anyone can offer some quick assistance. Thanks!
Question 2: (copy and pasted from other forum)
I can make a basic Illustrator chart/graph....definitely not a chart pro. What I would like to do is spice it up! I've done massive googling.
Does anyone know of any great websites that offer really good tips on spicing up charts (all types of charts preferably)? Also, probably like most of you, I am a visual person. Do you know of a "chart database" for lack of a better way of explaining it, where you can view lots of great charts for inspiration. (note: since posting this I have found a couple truly great sites...one on flickr called "infographics", but would love to see more.)
Another thing I'm looking for are use of multiple data and overlay different charts within one chart (if that makes any sense). Here are a couple examples, but I was wondering if you knew of any others (more like the one on the right so I can actually see what kind of data they used). (note: I am still lacking quality examples of charts like this)
THANKS!





