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. Bullet graphs were developed 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 single hue to make them discernible by those who are color blind and to restrict the use of colors on the dashboard to a minimum.

Below is an example of a single bullet graph:

File:Bullet Graph Example.svg

Below is the same example, this time with labels to identify each part of the bullet graph.

File:Labelled Bullet Graph Example.svg

Bullet graphs may be horizontal or vertical, and may be stacked to allow comparisons of several measures at once, as illustrated below.

File:Bullet graphs multiple.png

More information about bullet graphs can be found in the book Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few.

External links

• Perceptual Edge - Stephen Few's consultancy
• Bullet Graph Controls - Open source bullet graph controls for Windows Forms and Windows Presentation Foundation
• The Bullet Graph design specification
• Discussion with several bullet graph examples
• How to Create Bullet Graphs To Replace Gauges in Excel
• Video Tutorial: Creating a Bullet Graph in Excel
• How to create Bullet Graphs with the Google Charts API
• How to create Bullet Graphs in Google Spreadsheets
• How to Create Bullet Graphs in SAS
• How to Create Effective Graphs in Excel