Let’s talk a little about charts in PowerPoint 🙂 Have you ever used a specific chart type called radar? I bet your answer is NO or RARELY and I’m not surprised. The most common charts used in PowerPoint presentations are bar charts and pie charts but I’d like to show you how to replace typical charts with a more creative one.
For that post, I chose the example of the slide presenting the business values. Take a look below.
The Business Values Slide Before the Redesign
The slide presented above looks very ordinary. It’s a standard PowerPoint chart bar. Data are presented in a monotonous way and hard to remember, there’s nothing interesting that could pay the audience’s attention. The data presentation should be attractive to encourage viewers to analyze it and remember it.
So let’s see what you can do to transform such a tiresome slide into a visually attractive one.
The Business Values Slide After the Redesign
Let’s have a look now at the slide below. The bar chart was replaced with a radar diagram and enriched graphically. Labels are visualized with icons and values are presented in radial areas. The whole content has a very vivid color and is placed on a dark background which makes the association with a radar device.
When comparing these two slides, it becomes apparent how the proper visualization of presented content is important. The values visualized graphically are easier to remember and more attractive to read.
Such transformation of a monotonous bar chart into a creative radar diagram requires only a bit of planning and a few design steps.
Step 0. Analyze the slide content and structure
Before the redesign process, I recommend having a look at the content’s structure first. What kind of content does the source slide present? It’s a bar chart comparing more than five sets of data. It’s more efficient to compare such data with areas (like the radar chart has). What’s more, the whole content takes the place of one-half of the slide only, so it gives us the space to create a wide radar diagram.
Additionally, the process visualization is more natural to read when presented horizontally, from left to right. With such data presentation, your audience can easily recognize the following points of the agenda.
Step 1. Create the base – fan/radar shape.
Start with creating the shape of the fan. You can build it with standard PowerPoint shapes – block arc or a predesigned vector illustration.
Step 2. Present the values range
Once you have your base shape, add the axis and labels. Then illustrate the percentage values by adjusting the opacity of the radar elements.
Step 3. Choose the icons
Illustrate the categories with representative icons and add a touch of color to the content. The green color will resemble a real radar device.
Step 4. Enrich the slide with a dark background
Add a dark background to make the radar chart more interesting. Remember to adjust the text color.
Now your business values graphical visualization with a radar diagram is ready. Made with only a few simple steps. A well-looking slide containing graphic visualization will leave a good impression.
For more examples of PowerPoint unusual diagrams redesign, check another case study of Supranational European Bodies makeover for inspiration.
If you prefer a video guide, here’s a YouTube tutorial of the process I described above.
Sources
The slide redesign tips we used in this blog are inspired by
- infoDiagram’s Radial Diagram Fan Chart Infographics (PPT Template) collection.
- Examples of visualizing Business Values are based on this blog Present Industry Trends, Survey Results and more with Radial Charts
- Find out what you can create on your own with the free PowerPoint diagram sample kit and tutorials.
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