What you'll learn

Create business professional level graphs and charts in Excel
Learn step-by-step how to create 15 of the most important charts in business
Fit the right chart to the right data
Apply formatting and style techniques
Extract key chart insights and illustrate context and actions

Course content

4 sections • 27 lectures • 3h 46m total length

Introduction2:58
An overview of the course and what will be learnt
A framework for business chart design1:24
A design framework for creating business charts covering Setting (audience and context), Fit (choice of chart and fit to data), Style (clear and consistent formatting) and Action (highlighting insights and calls to action)
Audience Expectations4:04
Part 1 of the design framework: "Setting". Focus on understanding the audience.
Clarity and Style10:44
Part 3 of the design framework: "Style". Focus on simplicity, clarity and consistency.
Patterns and Fit: The selection process4:54
Part 2 of the design framework: "Fit". Focus on the chart selection process.
Patterns and Fit: Categories of charts6:43
Part 2 of the design framework: "Fit". Focus on the categories of charts for selection.
Chart Selection
Insights and Action5:33
Part 4 of the design framework: "Action". Focus on creating context, highlighting insights and calling to action.
Style and Insights

Formatting Introduction2:44
An outline of this section on Formatting charts in Excel. The section has two parts: the four lectures on formatting fundamentals are for beginners to charts in Excel. The formatting for business style charts lecture is recommended for all, except advanced users who may wish to skip to the next section.
Formatting Fundamentals: Data4:33
Part 1 of 4 in formatting fundamentals for those starting out. Focus is on readying data.
Formatting Fundamentals: Chart Shaping10:27
Part 2 of 4 in formatting fundamentals for those starting out. Focus is changing the form and type of chart.
Formatting Fundamentals: Chart Series8:55
Part 3 of 4 in formatting fundamentals for those starting out. Focus is on applying general formatting to the series on a chart.
Formatting Fundamentals: Chart Elements3:02
Part 4 of 4 in formatting fundamentals for those starting out. Focus is on application and formatting of chart elements.
Business Style Formatting - PART 110:42
The key lecture in the section on taking a chart from its default excel output to a business-ready style chart.
Business Style Formatting - PART 26:56
Compare two methods for chart formatting—Microsoft Office theme colors via page layout and direct color tweaks—apply Century Gothic fonts, white text, and refined spacing for clear, professional visuals.

About this section0:48
See the attached guide on how to navigate through this section, in case you wish to skip directly to your chart of choice. It provides an overview and reference on the application and step-by-step construction of the 15 types of charts in the lectures that follow. Don't forget the downloadable excel workbook examples!
Columns, bars and the power of grouping and stacking PART 1 - APPLICATION13:27
Lecture guide on the OVERVIEW and APPLICATION of the following charts:
Stacked column
Grouped column
Bar
Subcategory variation on column + bar
PivotChart variation on column
Columns, bars and the power of grouping and stacking PART 2 - CREATION26:02
Lecture guide on the STEPS TO CREATE (with accompanying Excel example workbook) the following charts:
Stacked column
Grouped column
Bar
Subcategory variation on column + bar
PivotChart variation on column
Scatter plots, histograms and regressive efficacy15:44
Lecture guide (1. overview, 2. steps to create and 3. accompanying Excel example workbook) to create the following charts:
Scatterplot
Histogram
Line charts and their combinations17:14
Lecture guide (1. overview, 2. steps to create and 3. accompanying Excel example workbook) to create the following charts:
Line graph
Combination graph
Doughnuts (donuts!?) over pies10:53
Lecture guide (1. overview, 2. steps to create and 3. accompanying Excel example workbook) to create the following charts:
Doughnut charts
Sunburst charts
Waterfall charts and decomposing the movement of money16:50
Lecture guide (1. overview, 2. steps to create and 3. accompanying Excel example workbook) to create the following charts:
Waterfall charts
Bubble charts on growth, share and such measures8:26
Lecture guide (1. overview, 2. steps to create and 3. accompanying Excel example workbook) to create the following charts:
Bubble charts
Radar charts and scoring3:49
Lecture guide (1. overview, 2. steps to create and 3. accompanying Excel example workbook) to create the following charts:
Radar chart
Mekko charts and categorizing a market19:08
Lecture guide (1. overview, 2. steps to create and 3. accompanying Excel example workbook) to create the following charts:
Mekko chart

Presentation tactics and PowerPoint interfacing4:00
How to publish your Excel charts in Powerpoint and Word
The complete wrap!3:15
Explore practical charting techniques for business audiences, covering stack and grouped columns, line, scatter, waterfall, radar, and donut visuals, plus formatting and storytelling to translate insights into action.
Bonus lecture: Heatmaps3:03
Lecture guide (1. overview, 2. steps to create and 3. accompanying Excel example workbook) to create a heatmap

Requirements

Familiarity with Microsoft Excel

Description

This course brings together everything you need to know to create professional business charts in Excel that make an impact, bring data to life, and reveal key insights at a glance.

You will learn about the key business and finance charts you'll need for all general management and executive decision making. That's 15 charts in all, and you do not need to know any more unless you're a specialist! You will develop a deep understanding of how to select the right graph for the data, applying the best styles and revealing the most relevant insights, no matter how complex. With step-by-step guidance on how to construct each of the charts, along the way you'll uncover all the handy tips and tricks you'll need to format charts and structure the underlying data, making charting seamless and simple.

We do not settle for the standard Excel chart output and ALWAYS demonstrate the important extra mile: how to structure and style your chart (and data) to a ready-to-publish business professional standard. Every chart is available as a downloadable resource, in a ready-to-go, fully formed and publishable format. You'll walk away from this course able to create each and every one of the charts in the exact same professional format.

In the hands-on lectures, we explore both the overview / application and the construction of each graph / chart. You'll gain a practical sense of how each chart is used in a business and finance setting, fitting both discrete and continuous data, from category-based through relative share, as well as correlation, rating, ranking and aggregation. This includes mastering well-known charts like column and bar, and learning to build lesser-known charts like Marimekko from scratch in Excel with no plugins at all!

We cover these charts:

Stacked column charts
Grouped column charts
Bar charts
Subcategory variations on bar / column charts
PivotChart variation on column charts
Line charts
Combo charts
Scatterplots
Histograms (both prior and post Excel 2016)
Doughnut charts
Sunburst charts
Waterfall charts (both prior and post Excel 2016)
Bubble charts
Radar charts
Mekko charts
Heatmaps
An attempt to talk you out of pie charts :)

Who this course is for:

Anyone developing charts for management, executive or board decision making
Market planners, strategists and divisional support persons
Management consultants
Financial managers, modelers and quants analysts

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Business data visualization leading practice7 lectures • 36min

Chart Formatting7 lectures • 47min

Creating top business charts10 lectures • 2hr 12min

Concluding3 lectures • 10min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: