- Bullet graph
A "bullet graph" is a variation of a bar graph developed by
Stephen Few . Seemingly inspired by the traditional thermometer charts and progress bars found in many dashboards, the bullet graph serves as a replacement for dashboard gauges and meters. Few developed bullet graphs to overcome the fundamental issues of gauges and meters; they typically display too little information, require too much space, and are cluttered with useless and distracting decoration. The bullet graph features a single, primary measure (for example, current year-to-date revenue), compares that measure to one or more other measures to enrich its meaning (for example, compared to a target), and displays it in the context of qualitative ranges of performance, such as poor, satisfactory, and good. The qualitative ranges are displayed as varying intensities of a singlehue to make them discernible by those who arecolor blind and to restrict the use of colors on the dashboard to a minimum.Below is an example of a single bullet graph:
Below is the same example, this time with labels to identify each part of the bullet graph.
Bullet graphs may be orientated horizontally or vertically, and may be stacked to allow comparisons of several measures at once, as illustrated below.
More information about bullet graphs can be found in the book "Information Dashboard Design" by Stephen Few. [Few, Stephen. Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data, 2006. ISBN 0-596-10016-7]
External links
* [http://www.perceptualedge.com/ Perceptual Edge] - Stephen Few's consultancy
* [http://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/misc/Bullet_Graph_Design_Spec.pdf The Bullet Graph design specification]
* [http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/sfew/vpost?id=891447 Discussion with several bullet graph examples]
* [http://www.exceluser.com/explore/bullet.htm How to Create Bullet Graphs To Replace Gauges in Excel]
* [http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/flashfiles/ExcelBulletGraphs.html Video Tutorial: Creating a Bullet Graph in Excel]
* [http://dealerdiagnostics.com/blog/2008/05/create-bullet-graphs-with-google-charts-in-7-easy-steps/ How to create Bullet Graphs with the Google Charts API]
* [http://dealerdiagnostics.com/blog/2008/09/the-ddr-bullet-graph-gadget/ How to create Bullet Graphs in Google Spreadsheets]References
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