Pie charts are something that we are used to seeing, and have been practically since elementary school. They are commonly used for comparisons because they help people visualize a difference and also allow them to understand different categories and severities of things. For this reason, it is always important to make sure a pie chart is used properly, otherwise information can become too overbearing and confusing.

When tasked with creating a pie chart, I felt that it was important to pick something that was equally important to me and had data that was easily comparable, as this is what would work best for a pie chart. The image below shows the pie chart I created with sample data taken from Statista about the percentage of college students who are diagnosed with some sort of mental disorder.

One thing that not many people are aware of (unless they were or are in college) is the amount of stress and hard work that comes with the role as well. More often than not, these stresses cause college students to be diagnosed with some sort of mental disorder, and I felt that as a college student who is also suffering from the stress and pressure put on me, this was a good thing to talk about. The pie chart features five different types of mental disorders that college students are most commonly diagnosed with, with anxiety and depression being the highest amongst them. 

I think this data was best shown in this pie chart because it puts the numbers and diagnoses into perspective about how significant and problematic the pressures of college are on a student. Due to the two large percentages taking up more than half of the circle, you get an idea of the severity of it.

As previously mentioned, this sample data was taken from a larger data set on Statista. However, Statista showed this information on a horizontal bar graph (as shown below).

While the bar graph is still a great way to display this information, I think that taking the higher percentages/more common disorders and displaying them on the pie chart created a more urgent and dramatic effect that may not have been seen or fully acknowledged in the bar graph. On the other hand, if I were to include all of this information in the pie chart created, I do not think the pie chart would have as much of an effect or impact as it currently does.

In all, a pie chart is a great way to display certain types of information, including my sample data set on mental disorders in college students. It shows comparison of different categories and allows for easy interpretation and understanding of data. One thing that I discovered while creating this pie chart is that Excel has several hidden tools and features to help you create the pie chart to your liking, including pre-made color palettes that make it easy to keep a theme, as well as different examples of pie charts using your data. For instance, I found that it looked better to have the percentage and category labels on the outside of the pie chart rather than the inside due to clutter and I was able to do so with a simple click of a button. I think it is important to note these features because certain types of information and pie charts may need to be created depending on the data used, and Excel provides easy navigation to do just that!

By Nick Ligameri

When you think about charts, the pie chart is probably the first chart that comes to your mind.  It is one of the most well-known types of chart.  Because of this notoriety, pie charts tend to be misused.  This misuse leads to pie charts getting a negative reputation.  According to storytellingwithdata.com, there are two main reasons to use a pie chart.  These reasons are to how a part (slice) relates to the whole (pie) and to show that one slice is larger or smaller compared to the pie. 

The graph shown above just so happens to convey both of these uses very well.  Today, 24 October 2022, is a day after the Philadelphia Phillies won the National League Pennant and secured their spot in the World Series.  I thought it would be appropriate to show how dominant the Phillies have been in the post-season.  They have played eleven games so far and have won nine of them.   

Storytellingwithdata.com explains that we perceive the area that a slice takes up.  This pie graph shows that the Phillies’ nine wins cover most of the pie.  It also shows that the Phillies are winning a high percentage of their playoff games.  This is why this specific pie chart does a great job showing how the Phillies’ nine wins convey a sense of the part-to-whole relationship and is relatively large compared to their two losses.  

The design of this graph was kept very simple.  We are only working with two numbers so there is no need to get crazy on the design.  The colors that I used were the Phillies’ colors, red and blue, for the two slices. The message I am trying to convey to the audience is that the Phillies are a dominant force right now, and this design shows this in a straightforward way.  The data I used was sourced from www.baseball-reference.com.  I had to click on a few links and do some basic counting and math to aggregate the data I wanted.   

Go Phillies! 

By John Wickham

Pie charts are weirdly one of controversial bits of infographics scene. People say that they are very common in the space, but most people do not understand how to make. People make it hard to understand with problems such as not understanding the percentages or just having to many slices for the chart.

Pie charts are best used to show comparisons between small number of different categories (2-5 different sections) and when you want to highlight one specific piece of data.

This pie chart above is about the sales of books within a group of genres. The main point I wanted to show was the low number of sales from the mystery genre. This highlights that more people should by mystery sections

A pie chart is a graphical representation technique that displays data in a circular-shaped graph. A pie chart best suits the parts-to-whole relationship for categorical or nominal or proportional data which sums up to a whole, mostly 100% or 1. Due to its unique display of data, it is better to not use so many data points in order to keep it simple and attractive. Often time, people use large amounts of data points which displays a crowded chart with many points of less significance making the chart not relatable or difficult to analyze.

make sense to show a parts-to-whole relationship for categorical or nominal data. The slices in the pie typically represent percentages of the total. 

Pie charts should be considered when the data possesses the following,

• Few components
• No time representation
• Distinct parts
• Easy visualization

Figure 1.00 is a simple display of data on a pie chart. It has fewer data point and the total of the proportions sums up to 100%.

Though the data as presented in figure 1.00 can be presented in a column chart and would make sense just as the pie chart, I would still prefer the use of the pie as it is more engaging compared to a column chart. Figure 1.01 below show a column chart of the same data as in figure 1.00. Though simple, audience will naturally not be able to tell the proportions of each column or what the total is so in this case I will prefer to use the pie chart for much convenience and easy visualization.

There are some few design tips to consider when designing a pie chart and some of these are;

• Avoid using 3-D designs
• Use colors that match your data
• Avoid too many slices
• Use presentable fonts
• And many more…

Using pie charts is beneficial for showing percentages that display the proportions of the data. Each section of the pie chart resembles a different piece of data. For my pie chart example, I decided to take the Metropolitan NHL Teams and researched their percentages of making it into the NHL playoffs. It is still early in the season, so the data I have researched changes weekly. My information is based on playoff chances as of Sunday, October 23rd, 2022. Using monkeypuck, I took the percentages of all the Metropolitan Division Teams, which can be found on the NHL’s official website.

As I was making my pie chart, it was rather easy to display the numbers and data. I then realized, if I moved the data labels while they are outside of the pie chart, it would automatically draw a line to the corresponding data. I made each data label color match the corresponding team as well as each slot in the pie chart. For example, the Philadelphia Flyer’s team consists of black, orange, and white. As shown on the pie chart, you can see the Philadelphia Flyer’s slot is colored orange. I also related the colors of the other teams, to the boxes as well, which can be seen in my pie chart. I also changed the fonts and font sizes, along with adding text boxes for the percentages of each team, inside the pie chart. Specifically for the data set I used, the pie chart is the best way to display this data. Otherize, a bar graph could be used as well, but I do not think it is as visually appealing in this scenario. I believe this data is better served as a pie chart to visually see the different percentages of each team’s playoff odds.